Where I'm From Author Event - Detroit
About this Event
Join author, award-winning filmmaker, and avid traveler Ebony Walden for a conversation celebrating the release of her debut memoir, Where I'm From: A Poetic Journey Across Five Continents. In conversation with Detroit native Aminata B. Sow, Walden will explore how solo travel across 15 countries and five continents reshaped her understanding of identity, belonging, Blackness, and home.
The evening will include a conversation, audience Q&A, and book signing.
A soulful travel memoir blending poetry, global adventure, and personal transformation — a story about seeing the world, and letting it change you.
About the Book
With the interiority of Wild and the global expanse of Eat Pray Love, this soulful travel memoir blends poetry, global adventure, cultural connection, and personal transformation with reflections on race, identity, and belonging.
In 2010, Ebony Walden—a twenty-nine-year-old city planner, poet, and New York transplant—embarked on an eight-month solo journey across fifteen countries and five continents. Propelled by a desire to find adventure and purpose, she travels from teaching English in Guatemala to conducting poetry workshops in Kenya and paragliding over the Swiss Alps.
Along the way, Ebony writes and shares “Where I’m From” poems with new friends around the world, using poetry as a bridge to explore identity, culture, and belonging.
But every destination challenges her in unexpected ways, forcing her to confront long-buried traumas from growing up in poverty in New York. Through travel, volunteering, and cultural exchange, she begins to understand that travel is not just about seeing the world—but about letting it change you.
About the author:
Ebony Walden
Ebony Walden is an author, filmmaker, and speaker whose life's work sits at the intersection of storytelling, travel, and racial equity. Having traveled to fifty countries and all fifty U.S. states, she brings a rare breadth of lived experience to every page, every frame, and every stage she graces.
She is the founder of , a racial equity–focused consulting firm that helps organizations build more just and inclusive cultures. She is also the creator of the award-winning documentary series , an exploration of culture, creativity, connection, and cuisine across the African diaspora — telling the stories of Black communities that the mainstream has long overlooked.
Ebony also writes Beyond Borders, a Substack newsletter on travel and transformation, where she shares essays and reflections offering soulful writing about identity, traveling the the journey of becoming.
She lives in Richmond, Virginia — when she is not traveling the globe, she love to spend extended periods in Senegal.
“A beautiful testament to the transformational power of travel. From chosen family to the kindness of strangers, this is a heartwarming reminder that travel can fill the void left by absence with joy and purpose.”—Lola Akinmade, travel writer and international best-selling author of In Every Mirror She's Black
“A bold and beautifully written journey of self-discovery across continents and within the soul. Walden reminds us that our stories, no matter how complex, are worthy of reflection, understanding, and pride.”—Dr. Lynette Charity, author of Escape Plan: Dreaming My Way Out of the Projects
“Ebony draws readers in with her imaginative blend of travel, poetry, personal history, and adventure, while her mesmerizing command of language pulls you effortlessly from one page to the next.”—Elaine Lee, author of Go Girl and Go Girl 2: The Black Woman's Book of Travel and Adventure
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00 to USD 22.14
