Traveling Cats & Spooky Chats with Vanessa Morgan
This week on Cattitude, Michelle Fern chats cats with the purr-fectly fascinating Vanessa Morgan — feline photographer, horror author, and founder of the wildly popular blog, Traveling Cats. For over 20 years, Vanessa has documented cats from around the globe, turning ordinary travel photos into a captivating cat-centric visual diary. What began as a fun side project became the largest online collection of cat travel photography and a go-to resource for cat-loving adventurers. Vanessa shares her journey of feline discovery, cultural cat differences, and her love of horror films (yes, she even wrote Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies). Get ready for a whirlwind of whiskers, wanderlust, and a little spooky fun!
Listen to Episode #275 Now:
Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies
BIO:
Vanessa Morgan is the founder and creative mind behind Traveling Cats. For over 20 years, she has been photographing every cat she meets during her travels around the world. In December 2013, Vanessa realized she had more travel pictures of cats than “normal” ones and thought it would be fun to share them on a blog. Two weeks later, Traveling Cats was born.
Initially, the site featured nothing but cat photos. These pictures not only showcased the cats but also provided a glimpse into the cities and countries where they were taken. The photos revealed that while some cats look like little divas in certain parts of the world, others are unkempt and struggling.
Vanessa’s passion for the site helped it grow quickly. What started as a simple collection of cat photos has evolved into an exhaustive guide on cats around the world. Traveling Cats is now the largest collection of travel pictures of cats and the first online destination for travelers seeking cat-related activities.
Vanessa Morgan is the editor of the movie reference guides When Animals Attack: The 70 Best Horror Movies with Killer Animals, Strange Blood: 71 Essays on Offbeat and Underrated Vampire Movies, Evil Seeds: The Ultimate Movie Guide to Villainous Children, and Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies. She also has had one cat book (Avalon) and four supernatural thrillers (Drowned Sorrow, The Strangers Outside, A Good Man, and Clowders) published. Three of her stories have been turned into movies. She has written for myriad Belgian magazines and newspapers and introduces movie screenings at several European film festivals. She is also a programmer for the Offscreen Film Festival in Belgium. When she's not working on her latest book, you can find her reading, watching movies, eating out, or photographing felines for her blog Traveling Cats.
When she’s not writing about cats, Vanessa is obsessed with horror movies. She began her career as a film critic and has authored three horror movie reference guides: When Animals Attack: The 70 Best Horror Movies with Killer Animals, Strange Blood: 71 Essays on Offbeat and Underrated Vampire Movies, and Evil Seeds: The Ultimate Movie Guide to Villainous Children. She has also written supernatural thrillers (Drowned Sorrow, The Strangers Outside, Clowders), a cat memoir (Avalon), and screenplays (A Good Man, Next to Her, GPS With Benefits). Three of her works have been adapted into films. All her writings are available on Amazon. Additionally, she is a programmer for the Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels, Belgium.
When she’s not writing, watching horror movies, or taking cat pictures, Vanessa enjoys reading, practicing yoga, drinking tea, and dining out.
She currently lives in Sint-Pieters-Woluwe, Belgium. She has previously lived in London, Oudergem, Zaventem, Sint-Stevens-Woluwe, and Genval.