“One of the happier ironies of recent history is that even as Tibet is being wiped off the map in Tibet itself, here it is in California, in Switzerland, in Japan. All over the world, Tibetan Buddhism is now part of the neighborhood. In 1968, there were two Tibetan Buddhist centers in the West. By 2000, there were 40 in New York alone.”

English-born essayist and novelist

Pico Iyer is an English-born essayist and novelist known chiefly for his travel writing. He is best known for books about crossing cultures and for essays shaped by life between places. His work includes Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk, and The Global Soul. He has also written for Time, Harper's, The New York Review of Books, and The New York Times, and his writing often returns to travel, identity, and cultural exchange.