Marco Polo @ 700

Marco Polo is turning 700 on January 8th, 2024! The above image is from a mosaic of Marco Polo at the Palazzo Grimaldi Doria-Tursi in Genoa, Italy.

Venice is planning to celebrate her native son with a series of celebrations. The marquee event will be an exhibition at the Ducal Palace starting in March 2024 and running through the end of the year. If you find yourself in Venice during this time, it sounds like an event well worth visiting.

‘The exhibition will include a wide range of objects already present in our museums. In parallel, we intend to develop links with Ca’ Foscari University, which offers a course in Oriental languages, including Chinese. This will allow us to further explore connections with Japan, even though Marco Polo never set foot there, but talked about it anyway.”

You can also take a tour of what is thought to be Marco Polo’s home.

The above image is a miniature from The Travels of Marco Polo, originally published during his lifetime and found now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

If you can’t make it to Venice in 2024, reading The Travels of Marco Polo would be another way to commemorate the legendary traveler. You can read more about some of his “discoveries” here, including paper money and crocodiles (medieval rendering below, from the British Library).

OTHER NEWS: Starting in 2024, you’ll see some changes to my blog. I plan to publish quarterly, and each post will be divided into three parts:

1. Women in History – I’ll share with you some amazing women that you’ve likely never heard about, but should know. A key goal of my website is to revive women’s lost stories – this is one way I’ll do so.
2. Recommended Reads – a few of my favourite books that might interest you too.
3. Other News – I’ll share with you some interesting news related to books, Venice, Italy, historical fiction, or what’s happening with me.

I do have one big item of news to share. I’m thrilled to announce that The Virgins of Venice made it from the longlist to the shortlist of the 2023 Chaucer Awards for Early Historical Fiction!