Prague, Czech Republic: This city has led to works such as Unbearable Lightness of Being and Prague Tales and has been declared UNESCO City of Literature. Inundated with cozy cafes, literary salons, and scholarly circles that were once home to Franz Kafka, Milan Kundera, and Bohumil Hrabal, it is best explored on foot. While you’re at it, you might want to stop at Globe (an English-language bookstore and café), Shakespeare and Sons (the Parisian bookshop’s eastern European outlet), and PageFive (a modern bookstore and publishing house). There’s also the unmissable Franz Kafka Museum.
Edinburgh, Scotland: Another UNESCO City of Literature, Edinburgh is the hometown for JK Rowling, Irvine Welsh, Robert Burns and Jackie Kay. Fun fact: Edinburgh has the highest concentration of libraries, at over 60 per 1,00,000 people. A must-visit is The Writers’ Museum, which honours three of Scotland’s greats: Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Robert Burns.
Stockholm, Sweden: The city conjures images of Scandinavian crime noir and rightly so. Home to Stieg Larsson who wrote the bestselling crime novel The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and its two sequels, there’s a ‘Millennium city tour’ one can opt for while visiting. Inventor Alfred Nobel also put Stockholm on the international literary map a century ago with the Nobel Prizes, which laud the achievements of writers along with those of scientists and peace activists.
Santiago, Chile: No literary list is complete without a visit to the great Latin authors—Isabel Allende, Nobel Prize-winning Gabriela Mistral, feminist novelist and short story writer María Luisa Bombal, Marcela Serrano, and, of course, Pablo Neruda. Evidence of their influence can be seen in murals, on the 5,000-peso bill, and at book-loving spaces such as Café Literario.
Monterey, California, US: Before Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, American writer John Steinbeck called Monterey home. His books East of Eden and Cannery Row are inspired by this region. Robert Louis Stevenson also wrote his book Treasure Island here. Steinbeck’s home is a popular tourist spot for its Victorian architecture.