Meet Cynthia Barnes

Cynthia Barnes has harshed on presidential candidates’ campaign music for Salon, sang karaoke with Tibetan cowboys for Slate, interviewed Billy Bob Thornton for Premiere, and joined an archaeological dig for National Geographic. Her adventures with marriage-minded nomads and bad-tempered bulls in the West African nation of Mali was listed as ‘notable’ in The Best American Travel Writing 2006. These and other exploits form the basis for her first book, Blue: Wanders from Arkansas to Timbuktu.

When she’s not getting arrested in Tibet or swapping fashion tips with elephant polo-playing ladyboys in Thailand, she’s writing for Humanities, Continental, Voyaging, Mobile, Global Traveler, Endless Vacation, American Archaeology, the Detroit Free Press and other publications. Cynthia’s column Wander Woman appears in a number of U.S. magazines. (Email her for syndication info.)

Her essay “Blame It On Rio” is in the Traveler’s Tales anthology Whose Panties Are These? As you’ll learn when you read “Rio,” Cynthia will do almost anything for a story. Throw a hand grenade? Oh… why not? Eat a bug? Bon appétit. Dive out of an airplane? Geronimo!

What she won’t do is whiff deadlines, throw a hissy fit if her work is edited, or turn in a tired formula piece. If you want clean, compelling copy … on deadline … you want Cynthia Barnes.