Today we’d like to introduce you to Teresa Bergen

Hi Teresa, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?

My parents were in the position where my mom could stay home and raise their three daughters while my dad’s work supported the household. Before having kids, Mom had been a first grade teacher. Her favorite thing about first grade was teaching her students to read. So we spent endless time reading together, and also writing and illustrating homemade books. No wonder I always saw myself as a writer and an artist!

As I grew up, I continued to write and paint. I got a BA in journalism and an MFA in fiction writing. I’ve explored many different types of writing but for the last 12 or so years I’ve mostly focused on travel. I write for print and online publications and have published a few books. Within travel, I write about outdoors, eco and sober travel. This last is a niche I’ve been working on as part of my campaign to normalize sobriety in an alcohol-obsessed world. I had the good fortune of getting out from under addiction problems early in life and want to encourage others to do the same, and to know that there’s a wonderful full life available without using drugs and alcohol. Last year, Microcosm Press put out my Sober Travel Handbook as a zine. They’ve decided there’s enough interest for a full-length book slated to come out in fall of 2025. I’m illustrating the book with drawings of my alter ego, Sober Cat: a hairless, nonbinary Sphynx cat who overcame a rough life in the alleys and now travels the world sober.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

Aside from the aforementioned early struggles with substances, I’ve had it pretty easy. Things don’t always go as I want—I’m still waiting for somebody to publish my 13 novels. I was dead set on being a successful novelist so that’s my biggest disappointment. I feel like I have to be like water—push in a bunch of places and then be satisfied with where I get through.

But whatever. Compared to about 99% of the world’s population, I really have nothing to complain about.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?

I’ve lived for more than half a century now, so what I do is always evolving. Right now I’m most known for travel writing, painting cat portraits, my goal of kayaking or paddle boarding in every US state and Canadian province, and my love of open water swimming with my swim buddies.

What I’m most proud of is that as I get older I’m still expanding my world with new experiences, rather than letting it contract. Trying new activities makes life so much more interesting. I just got scuba certified this year and I’m planning to volunteer in a haunted house for the first time this Halloween season. At the same time, I haven’t lost my enthusiasm for everyday things like petting all the neighborhood cats and dogs and starting to get excited about tomorrow’s first cup of coffee the night before.

What sets me apart? We each have a set of characteristics that add up to seeing the world a certain way. For example, my spiritual background is Catholic/12 step/yoga. As a toddler, I teethed on live turtles, then I went through a phase of meowing instead of talking. These kind of factors set you up for telling different types of stories than, say, a Buddhist who teethed on live shrimp and thought he was a bird. We are all both as common and as individual as snowflakes.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?

Lying in the summer grass. The smell of donuts. Daydreams of pterodactyls, my favorite dinosaurs. Examining insect behavior in the lantana bush. Trying to teach my cat to write the alphabet.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://teresabergen.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teresa.bergen/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/teresa.bergen.3/
• Other: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/zines/47854, https://thesobercurator.com/teresa-bergen/, https://outdoorswire.usatoday.com/author/teresabergen/

Image Credits

headshot: Jennifer Kapnek