“What [Torbjørn Ekelund]’s addressing is the intention to walk one’s way to meaning: the walk as spiritual exercise, a kind of vision quest in which the answers we arrive at are less important than the impulse to seek them.”—David Ulin, New York Times

Torbjørn is a lauded author, a co-founder of the online nature magazine Harvest and a practitioner of what he calls “the art of walking”.

When he was diagnosed with epilepsy, Torbjørn was forced to put down his car keys and instead walk as his primary mode of transportation. His rediscovery of walking and its essential role in human history has led him to write his recent book In Praise of Paths: Walking Through Time and Nature. “To me the art of walking is synonymous with the art of seeing,” says Torbjørn. “It is synonymous with thinking, with mental harmony, a kind of small-scale enlightenment. When we walk, we move at a pace that is natural for us. We can observe details in the landscape we pass through, see how it changes as we think about the most trivial things in our lives.”

Torbjørn lives and writes in Oslo, Norway with his partner, Trude, and their two children, and goes on long hikes in the Norwegian wilderness.

Author Patron: Ian Arthur

Book: www.greystonebooks.com/products/in-praise-of-paths
Website: www.instagram.com/torbeke/

Appearing in: 23. In Praise of Paths: Finding Direction in Nature