I’ve never thought of myself as much as a travel writer. As my first book may indicate, when it comes to nonfiction, I considered myself more of a memoirist. I looked inward for inspiration. But as I got older and found mining myself for writing material less interesting, I became drawn to the people and places around me—often directly around me—as sources of great interest. I wrote a poem about Joseph Gould, who founded my hometown of Uxbridge, Ontario, and his involvement in the Rebellion 1837. I wrote an essay on The Bean Puzzle Tombstone in Waterloo region and the UFO legacy in Moonbeam, Ontario. Both of these pieces got a significant, and to me, surprising amount of attention. People really liked them. Perhaps most surprisingly, I really liked writing them. I began to relish the ways in which travel writing provided a fascinating opportunity for me to examine the world (past and present) through the lens of myself and others, and myself and others through the lens of the world.
I proceeded to read a ton of travel writing, including Pamela Mulloy’s fabulous Off the Tracks, and Mary Shelley’s travel journals. When I heard about Jason Allen’s 52 Things to Do in Hamilton: The Insider’s Guide to Fun in the Hammer (Wolsak & Wynn, November 11, 2025), I knew I wanted to talk with him about his decision to explore the hyper local in his work. He was good enough to join me for this interview.
Hollay Ghadery: Thanks for joining me Jason! Tell me about where this book began? What inspired you to write about Hamilton?
Jason Allen: It’s kind of funny, but my editor made me write it. I had been toying with a number of book projects over the past few years and couldn’t get any of them off the ground. At the same time, I was spending a fair bit of time on social media answering the question ‘What’s going on this weekend?”
Hamilton, like a lot of cities has lost our free weekly newspaper with its comprehensive event listings. That has resulted in people not knowing what’s happening, what’s new, or even what’s old that they haven’t been to in a while. It has meant that artists, and cultural institutions have had to scramble to get shrinking coverage in legacy media. It has also left them trying to spread the word on social media which punishes them for not paying for ads by sharing the event widely the day after it has happened.
The main intent of this book was to share some legacy things that happen every year and can form a foundation for getting out and seeing what the city has to offer.
Hamilton has also seen a huge influx of people from Toronto, Oakville and Mississauga over the past 10 years who moved here not because it was their first choice, but because it was where they could afford a house. I wanted to share with them some of the amazing things to do in the city I’ve called home for 20 years, to maybe help them fall in love with this place too.
- 52 things is a lot to write about! How did you decide what to include? What to leave out?
JA: 52 things may sound like a lot, but in Hamilton the real challenge was what to exclude. I wanted to strike a balance between things I love doing – museums and time in nature – with things that would appeal more broadly, like sporting events and big festivals. I also wanted to be sure to highlight events or places that would still be around in a few years. That means everything in the book has been running or open for at least three years and is generally well attended. Even still, it’s a very difficult marketplace for cultural institutions and events right now, so nothing is permanent, but I tried to include things that had staying power.
- What is your advice to writers on how much of yourself to put into travel writing? How much of your writing includes your own subjective views and experiences? Or would you say that this depends on the person and the place?
JA: I think it depends on the type of travel writing. For the kinds of travel writing I read in magazines or books, I like it when the writer tells a story. To me that story needs background, history and a bit of a narrative arc to it. That’s the travel writing I enjoy the most. In my case, this is more of a guide book, so I wanted to make it personal, without being about me. When writing, I imagined myself talking over my fence to an imaginary neighbour who just moved here from Toronto and doesn’t know about any of the great things Hamilton has to offer. I wanted it to be light and positive, and still be in my voice. Which I think it is. It reads very much like talking to me while I dispense advice, and that’s what I was going for.
- What was your favourite—or one of your favourite—places to write about?
JA: The nature walks and outdoor spaces for sure. I’ve been writing and talking on the radio about getting into Hamilton’s natural spaces for a long time now, and I’m always encouraging people to explore our natural beauty. It’s funny though, when I mentioned to the teller at my bank about the book, and he very logically asked what the best two or three events were, one of mine was hiking in a conservation area during the raptor migration. He looked at me very oddly and asked why that sort of thing was in the book. I’m expecting that reaction from a few people. The book at first glance seems to be a guide to events and festivals, but it’s so much more than that. I defined ‘things to do’ pretty broadly, and I hope people will be willing to step a bit out of their comfort zone and try something new.
HG: What was one of the more challenging destinations to write about?
JA: There were a few events, mainly sporting events, that – full disclosure – I have never attended. I’m not a sporty guy, and I don’t know if I would have been able to write such a glowing piece about some of the sports teams in our city if I had attended a game and not enjoyed myself. For those sections I relied on the accounts of friends who are big fans of the respective teams to figure out how to tell those stories.
- I think writing that explores travel—especially locally—is vital to our understanding of ourselves, our world, and our communities. I’d love to hear your thoughts about the importance of local and hyper local travel writing and why you think people should explore their hometowns and cities.
JA: I think it’s especially important for someone moving to a new city to get out and explore, in order to figure out how to really get the best of their experience. It’s also important for people who have lived here their whole lives and have settled into a routine to get out and explore the city that has probably changed a lot around them, and not necessarily for the worse.
I think a lot of how we think of the places we live is shaped by the news and social media, and in Hamilton there seems to be two totally different cities. There’s the city on the 6:00 news with shootings downtown, and unhoused people in parks, and mismanagement at City Hall.
Then there’s the city of Supercrawl – a 3 day music and arts festival where upwards of a quarter million people come to hear some fantastic music. It’s the city of Princess Point during the spring warbler migration when birders come from all over southern Ontario to see species that you can’t see anywhere else. It’s the city of restauranteurs who have come from across Canada to set up in Hamilton because our food scene is so strong.
That’s the Hamilton I want people to see, not the one on the news. But you make a choice about the city you see. You can choose to huddle in your living room in front of the TV with the doors locked and the curtains drawn. Or you can choose to head out on a sunny weekend and see some great music, or theatre, or art, or history. I just wanted to help make the latter choice easier for some people.
HG: Do you have any other travel writing in mind for the future? Or any writing project you were working on at all?
JA: I am going to wait and see how this book is received, and what the reaction is, and learn from that. From there I’m looking at getting out and exploring other regions in southwest Ontario, and hopefully writing about them too.
About Jason Allen:
Jason Allen has lived in Hamilton with his family for twenty years, where he has spent much of that time scouring the city for things to do and ways to keep his kids occupied. Jason has lived in Calgary, Guelph, Toronto, Buffalo, Los Angeles and Reno, and would trade any of them for Hamilton. Jason works as an outdoor educator and adult learning course designer and writes for local publications about the city and the environment. He lives in the west end with his wife, two adult sons and two cats.
About Hollay Ghadery:
Hollay Ghadery is a multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, was released with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024 and was longlisted for the Toronto Book Award. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is due out with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children’s book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is a host on The New Books Network, as well as a co-host on HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist, the Regional Chair of the League of Canadian Poets and a co-chair of the League’s BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay at www.hollayghadery.com.