Anne Boyd

Author * Traveler * Teller of Women's Stories

I am a writer passionate about travel and women’s stories.

After 23 years as a literature professor, I left academia, sold my house in New Orleans, and bought a one-way ticket to Paris. I have been traveling around Europe ever since.

I’m the author of the popular Substack newsletter Audacious Women, Creative Lives, inspiring women to live and write outside the lines. I am also the author of three books about American women writers, and the editor of four more.

You can find my writing at Literary Hub, the Washington Post, Salon, and elsewhere.

Two Years Ago I Quit My Life

How It’s Been Going and Where I’m At Now

. . . “I like your life,” someone said to me online in response to some pictures I posted from my month in Italy. This got me thinking, do my friends and acquaintances have any idea what my life is really like? Would they really like to live as I do now? . . .

I can revel in the fact that I have no job to dash off to in the morning, no more carpool, and no more papers to grade. Instead, I have had more hours than I can count in trains and planes, hiking in gorgeous mountains, lounging in piazzas, seeing amazing art exhibitions, eating croissants, and sipping Scotch.

But I also can’t help thinking about one of my favorite Deborah Levy quotes (there are many), from The Cost of Living:

“Freedom is never free. Anyone who has struggled to be free knows how much it costs.”

Read the rest of my viral Substack post.

What Readers Say

"Your substack has brought women writers into my life and that creation of community is priceless. I love what you are building and I am so grateful for your words and work!"

Julie Christine Johnson

"Anne Boyd is indeed doing a hard thing—something many of us have thought about and perhaps even dreamed of but never quite summoned the courage to attempt. She’s creating a new life across the pond because her old one was no longer working for her. The process has been and continues to be messy, but she’s learning to be okay with that, and I admire the hell out of this refreshingly vulnerable essay and her whole Substack which embodies honesty and generosity."

Lenora

"Anne's journey is so inspiring. Take a read."

Phoebe

"I love your project of describing the peripatetic woman writer -- and how yours intersects with other women's lives and books and places. Keep at it and keep sharing!"

Victoria Olsen

"Anne's writing in every genre is invariably rich, elegant, and important."

Sheila Teahan