PARKER GRIFFON

I am a physicist, lawyer and technologist who has lived and worked in Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America with a deep curiosity about how people navigate life across cultures. My forthcoming literary memoir Swimming in Air, set in Europe and Africa, is the poignant tale of love, loss, and the fleeting joy of lives intertwined. 

When American tech executive Parker Griffon meets Vivian Falkenberg, a fiercely independent German-Argentine translator, in 1986 Munich, neither is looking for commitment. Yet their instant connection leads them to embark on a year-long African journey while living on $20 a day. As they navigate political upheaval, witch doctors, eccentric expatriates, and their own cultural differences, their relationship deepens into something neither expected. But just as they seem to have built their dream life together, everything changes.

Swimming in Air captures a unique moment in history, as the couple travel through countries on the cusp of massive change – from Cold War West Germany to pre-genocide Rwanda and apartheid South Africa. Their journey illuminates both the beauty and complexity of the African continent rarely seen with such nuance.