Erla Zwingle

Erla Zwingle has written for dozens of magazines over the past 30 years, primarily National Geographic, to which she has contributed 25 articles as well as writing its Guide to Venice. “I didn’t study journalism,” Zwingle says. “I studied art history, which was the best thing because you get to learn about all sorts of things—just like journalism.” Her idea of a great assignment, she says, is “one in which I discover that all the things I thought I knew when I started turn out to be wrong.” Zwingle took up residence in Venice, Italy, 20-plus years ago after falling in love with a Venetian, who is now her husband. “He taught me to row in the Venetian way,” she says, “and our happy place is anywhere in the lagoon, preferably at low tide. Because of the clams.”