Hello, and thanks for dropping by!
First of all, quite a few hits on this website come as a result of a certain Australian namesake of mine, Phil Hendicott. If you fall into that category, I am indeed happily married, and my wedding photos can be found elsewhere on this website, but unlike Phil I chose to tie the knot fully clothed. Good luck in your… erm… search.
As for me, I graduated with a Master’s Degree in Chemistry from the University of Warwick, UK, in 2006, having already decided that the world of science wasn’t for me. Instead I wanted to travel and develop a global perspective, and in order to do so I secured a job teaching English in Seoul, South Korea. I stayed for around 18 months, evolving a great love of both East Asian culture, the travel opportunities that came with it, and writing about my experiences. For me, writing professionally came almost by accident. My blog led to a few requests for articles from a local expat magazine called Rokon. Within six months I found myself contributing to the Seoul Lonely Planet, as well as writing for the Seoul Government Tourism Office and the nation’s biggest English language paper, The Korea Herald.
I now reside in Dublin, Ireland, where I’m well established in my career as a freelance music and travel writer. I have made hundreds of weekly contributions to Irish national The Sunday Business Post, featured in The Irish Sun and Asian powerhouse The Korea Herald, and work frequently with Britain’s highest circulation music publication, The Fly Magazine. I write regularly on music, both as ROI live editor of Belfast based publication AU Magazine and as a regular contributor to Irish Web Award winning music websites State.ie and Goldenplec.com. In the course of my music writing career to date, I’ve been lucky enough to pick up a host of major name interviews, including published interviews with Yoko Ono, Bloc Party, INXS, My Chemical Romance, Manic Street Preachers, Ash, Dropkick Murphys and lots, lots more.
Having travelled extensively throughout my life, visiting nearly forty countries in five continents, travel writing has also come naturally to me. As well as my early success with Lonely Planet, I’ve had a number of substantial travel features published in The Sunday Business Post Travel Supplement. I spent more than two years as the in-house travel blogger at Travbuddy.com, the world’s largest social media travel website with over 1.5 million members, where my work was read by thousands of people daily. I was also hired as magazine and brochure writer for multi-national representative ASEAN Tourism, and have produced articles ranging in topic from travel in North Korea (and an interview with a North Korean escapee) to climate change issues in El Salvador and Euro 2012 sports tourism in Poland.
Throughout my writing career, I’ve enjoyed creating a number of opportunities to be part of larger projects. In 2012, I had a major hand as co-owner in successfully launching De\Code Magazine, an Irish culture publication that is currently on hold while expensive legal issues with a printer are dealt with. One off projects have included combining my two literary passions in producing the Dublin section of Museyon Guidebooks Music & Travel, a four page spread in VW Campervan Life and a regular activities column in Dublin urban-culture magazine The Social.
Writing, for me, is about conveying my own passion and sparking others’ interest. Journalistic integrity is, of course, key, and where possible I like to write about subjects in which I have genuine expert knowledge before setting off. I particularly enjoy first person journalism, and experiential writing in the factual Gonzo-journalism style often employed by the likes of The Rolling Stone. To this end, my primary future ambitions lie in in-depth feature writing, though I also understand the need to write in a diverse array of styles to suit contexts, from storytelling to formal news and information style pieces.
You can find a huge array of previously published content across this website, but if you want – or need – to know more, you can get hold of me through the contact section or through a variety of social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn). I’m always delighted to hear any feedback!
Best,
James Hendicott