Anne Born

Anne Born is a New York-based writer and photographer who has been writing stories and poetry since childhood. She blogs on The Backpack Press and Tumbleweed Pilgrim and her writing focuses on family and life in a big city after growing up in a small one. She holds a B.A. in Art History from the University of Michigan and a M.A. in Art History from the University of Chicago, along with post-graduate study at Columbia University in Medieval Church Architecture.

Anne is the author of "A Marshmallow on the Bus," "Prayer Beads on the Train," "Waiting on a Platform," "Turnstiles," “Local Color," and “Buen Camino! Tips from an American Pilgrim.” Her short essay on the call to the Camino is included in "It's About Time," by Johnnie Walker (Redemptorist Pastoral Publications, 2019).

Her book, "If You Stand Here" is a tour of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela for pilgrims. It focuses not on the dimensions of the building or all the various architectural programs, but on the people who have visited the Cathedral over the past 12 centuries. Her latest, "Buen Camino! Tips From a WINTER Pilgrim" is available in paperback and on Kindle.

She a contributor to the 2015 anthology, "Love Her, Love Her Not: The Hillary Paradox," edited by Joanne Bamberger. Anne’s essay on her cousin’s collection of Nancy Drew novels was published in the Silver Birch Press "Nancy Drew Anthology" (2016). She is the curator of the Late Orphan Project and a former contributor to The Broad Side.

Anne is also an award-winning photographer, specializing in photos of churches, cemeteries, and the Way of St. James in Spain, the Camino de Santiago. Anne's poetry has been published in Pan-O-Ply Michiana, the Newtown Literary Journal, and in “Me, as a Child,” “All About My Name,” and “My Prized Possession,” Poetry & Prose Series published by Silver Birch Press. Her poetry has also been featured in New York at Boundless Tales, Word Up Community Bookstore, and the Queens Council on the Arts. She has been a guest in several venues with Inspired Word NYC, at the New York Transit Museum, on Queens Public TV in “The World of Arts,” and with the International Women Artists’ Salon on Salon Radio. She has been a featured speaker at the 2023 Gathering of the American Pilgrims on the Camino (Lake Tahoe), 2025 Sacred Journeys (Canberra, Australia), and 2025 Annual Symposium for Pilgrimage Studies at William & Mary (Virginia). Anne divides her time between the US and Spain.

Follow Anne Born and The Late Orphan Project at TheBackpackPress, TumbleweedPilgrim, and on Threads, Redbubble, and Instagram @nilesite. On Facebook as Anne Eileen.

AWARDS

September 2016 - These Winter Months: The Late Orphan Project Anthology, edited by Anne Born, The Backpack Press. Winner (Anthologies), The Great Midwest Book Festival.

April 2017 - These Summer Months: Stories from The Late Orphan Project, edited by Anne Born, The Backpack Press. Finalist (Anthologies: Non-Fiction), International Book Awards.

November 2019 - Local Color, The Backpack Press, Distinguished Favorite (Poetry), 2019 New York City Big Book Awards.

2021 - If You Stand Here, Tumbleweed Pilgrim. Designated Favorite (Travel Writing), Independent Press Award

2022 - Buen Camino! Tips From a WINTER Pilgrim, Tumbleweed Pilgrim. Distinguished Favorite (Travelogue), New York City Big Book Awards

June 2022 - If You Stand Here, Tumbleweed Pilgrim. Award-Winning Finalist (Travel), International Book Awards

November 2022 - Buen Camino! Tips From a WINTER Pilgrim, Tumbleweed Pilgrim. Winner (Travel) 2022 American Writing Awards

Photo credit: Marvin Mendlinger, Inspired Word NYC