I've been mentioned in the Washington Post!

About a week ago, I got an email from Erika Mailman, a freelance writer for the Washington Post, who said she was working on an article about the "OUTLANDER Effect" on Scottish tourism, which is bringing a lot of attention to historic sites like Culloden as well as places where the OUTLANDER TV show has filmed in Scotland.

She said she'd seen a reference on my blog to the boundary stone between England and Scotland known as the Carter Bar, and she wanted to know where the specific quote was in the books that referenced it. So I told her what she wanted to know. <g>

In case you're wondering, the reference is in VOYAGER:
He had come up from the Lake District and over the Carter’s Bar, that great ridge of high ground that divides England from Scotland, on whose broad back the ancient courts and markets of the Borders had been held.

“There’s a stone there to mark the border, maybe you’ll know; it looks the sort of stone to last a while.” He glanced at me, questioning, and I nodded. I did know it; a huge menhir, some ten feet tall. In my time, someone had carved on its one face ENGLAND, and on the other, SCOTLAND.

(From VOYAGER by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 37, "What's in a Name". Copyright© 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)
When Ms. Mailman mentioned what her article was about, naturally I said I'd been to Scotland twice, the first time on Judy Lowstuter's Celtic Journeys tour with my mom and my sister in 2012, and had a fabulous time. (You can read my account of that trip here.) She said she'd interviewed Judy for this article. And Diana Gabaldon, too, of course, but she didn't mention that.

So the article will be appearing in the Travel section of the Washington Post tomorrow (Feb. 16), timed to coincide with the premiere of Season 5. <g> As soon as I heard that, I asked her to include a link to my site if possible -- which she did!

Here's the link to the article if you want to read it online.

Even though it's only a brief mention, this is quite a thrill for me personally, as you can imagine. <g> Another item to add to the list of things that would never in a million years have happened to me if I hadn't found these books.

6 comments

Jessie said...

Way to go, Karen!

Erika M said...

So happy to have your expertise and wisdom in the piece, albeit briefly. Thanks for emailing with me!

Catherine MacGregor said...

That is great, Karen! Meal do naideachd! (Congratulations!)

Anonymous said...

Congrats! So cool! I was able to read it just by clicking the link!

PrimeTimeMom said...

I found your blog through the WP article. I just started reading the first book and watching the series and I already love it!

Karen Henry said...

PrimeTimeMom - Welcome! I'm glad you found my site, and the books!

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