Best-selling author and West Roxbury native John Kenney on getting lost and having good friends on the Cape

Best-selling author and West Roxbury native John Kenney said he is looking forward to a book tour for the paperback release of his popular 2025 book “I See You’ve Called in Dead.” The 63-year-old former ad executive, who was a longtime contributor to The New Yorker magazine and who has written three novels and four books of poetry, will do a book signing at Word on the Street in Marlborough at 7 p.m. on June 27. Kenney called writing books “such a privilege” and said that he enjoys meeting his readers on book tours. “The thing I am in awe of is that the irony of fiction is that when it’s done well, it’s true [and how] these strangers in cities all over the country felt these things you tried to get on the page,” said the University of Massachusetts at Amherst graduate. “There’s something so beautiful about that to me … so universal.” Kenney said it is “such a thrill” to talk with people “about grief and death and what makes for a meaningful life.” His novel follows obituary writer Bud Stanley, who doesn’t feel that he’s living his best life, Kenney said. “He’s fallen into a funk after a divorce, he’s not doing his job well, he’s giving up on dating, and he’s about to be fired for accidentally publishing his own obituary” after a night of drinking, he said. “As Bud awaits his fate at work, he does the only logical thing: He goes to the wakes and funerals of total strangers to learn how to live again.” We caught up with Kenney, who lives in Larchmont, N.Y., with his wife, Lissa, a therapist, and their two teenagers, to talk about all things travel.

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If you could travel anywhere right now, where would you go? Two places come to mind. The first is Japan. I’ve always wanted to go to Japan. Not Tokyo, but Osaka, Kyoto, and Kanazawa. I feel like they might know a secret we don’t. The other is Switzerland. Ride the Bernina Express. As it is, I’ll likely just travel to Trader Joe’s later today and hope they have Sea Salt Brownie Bites.

Do you prefer booking trips through a travel agent or on your own? I like to book my own travel. It feels weird when others do it for me, as would happen when I had a real job at a company. I enjoy the hotel research and am a big JetBlue fan.

Thoughts on an “unplugged” vacation? I’m all for it. Though I wonder if it’s possible these days. That said, I’m more than happy to spend large chunks of the day on the beach looking at the waves and not at a screen.

What has been your worst vacation experience? Childhood, I think. A trip to Maine when I was 7 or 8 and an awful sunburn that kept me in bed, unable to sleep much.

What is your favorite childhood travel memory? I grew up in West Roxbury. On hot summer days, my mother would pile us in the car and drive to Nantasket Beach. She’d pack tuna or bologna sandwiches. Chips. Cans of Star Market orange soda. We’d sit on the concrete-hard gray sand, swim in the cold and salty water … a time before cares or worries or anxiety.

Do you vacation to relax, to learn, or for the adventure of it all? What is this word “relax”? I rarely go on vacation. When I do, it’s because I feel like we should take the kids somewhere. We have good friends on Cape Cod, so we spend time there in summer. And in the winter, we visit friends in Stowe. I make it a point to have successful friends with many houses. I think they enjoy taking pity on a poor writer.

What book do you plan on bringing with you to read on your next vacation? I wish I knew. But I do know I’ll do what I always do: bring back issues of The New Yorker. I can never get through an issue before the next one comes. They stack up. I grab a bunch and read them on the plane, on the beach … they never disappoint.

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If you could travel with one famous person/celebrity, who would it be? Living: The pope/Dalai Lama. I’m not very religious, but I bet it’s an extraordinary experience to see what they see: the faces of people so enamored, so hopeful. Dead: Anthony Bourdain. He seems like he was a really remarkable human being … so open to experience and people.

What is the best gift to give a traveler? Cash, Imodium, or a slim old book you found on eBay about the place.

What is your go-to snack for a flight or a road trip? Apples.

What is the coolest souvenir you’ve picked up on a vacation? Three paintings I recently stole from the Louvre. Wait…

What is your favorite app/website for travel? I’m sorry to disappoint, but I have no apps on my phone except for Uber and ChaseBank, Amtrak, and Life360. Yes, I’m pathetic.

What has travel taught you? That 8 billion strangers are actually all connected, all so much alike. I traveled after college for nine months across Eastern and Western Europe and the Middle East. Much later, I traveled a great deal for work. I’ve been very lucky to visit amazing places. Along the way, people almost never disappointed me. It’s so easy to be cynical, to see strangers as “other.” But a smile, a hello, or thank you in Arabic or Hungarian or Basque unlocks doors to kindness and empathy and this universal connection that’s always there, waiting for us if only we act on it.

What is your best travel tip? To get lost. Put the phone and Google Maps in your pocket. Wander. Plans are lovely. I’m a fan. Take the random left turn down the alley in Venice or stop in at the tiny, strange-looking restaurant in the Thai countryside or camp out overnight at Erg Chebbi in Morocco. No plan, no Yelp rating. Just an entirely new experience. Unknown, a little scary, fully alive. What’s better?

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