Jude Brosnan

NEW Slow Ways Pocket Atlas

A brand new atlas of walking routes connecting all of Britain’s towns, cities and national landscapes by Slow Ways CIC and Urban Good.

Discover a network of over 9,000 walking routes connecting all of Britain’s towns, cities and national landscapes. This bright and beautiful new collection of maps shows every Slow Way route in Great Britain, which between them join up 2500 settlements via 130,000km of existing paths, lanes and trails. Use the pocket atlas to dream of journeys. Colour in where you’ve been or where you’d like to go. This pocket atlas has been made thanks to thousands of people. Contributors have volunteered hundreds of thousands of hours plotting, walking, wheeling, testing and reviewing the routes. In this atlas you can find out more about the Slow Ways movement, how it is changing what we think is possible, and creating a network of connection and joy!

The creator

Urban Good CIC and Slow Ways CIC have worked together on mapping the new walking network from the start. Their existing maps have a popular and unique style to highlight the routes. Both organisations are Community Interest Companies.

Slow Ways Pocket Atlas is available for pre-order now for £12.99

Available in store from 24th October

Slow Ways Pocket Atlas Launch

Tuesday 22nd October19:00 – 20:30.

Stanfords London, 7 Mercer Walk, Covent Garden, WC2H 9FA

We invite you to join us for the official launch of the Slow Ways Pocket Atlas. The evening will feature talks from Hannah Engelkamp, Daniel Raven-Ellison, and Charlie Peel, who will share the stories behind the making of this atlas and the powerful movement that connects over 2,500 towns and cities through over 9,000 walking routes.

Tickets £7 Includes glass of wine/soft drink and a discount off the book when purchased on the evening. Buy tickets here.

Author Talk: An Irishman in Northern Mesopotamia by Nicholas Mackey

It was a full house at Stanfords last night as we went on an extraordinary journey through south-east Türkiye with Nicholas Mackey and his new book An Irishman in Northern Mesopotamia .

Extract- Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian’s Country Diary, 2018-2024

Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian’s Country Diary, 2018-2024 takes us on a beautiful journey through the British countryside, drawn from The Guardian’s beloved Country Diary. With an introduction by Ian McMillan, and illustrations by Clifford Harper.

For over a century, The Guardian’s Country Diary has published the nation’s most celebrated writers of natural history as they capture the essence of the British countryside.

From Yorkshire to Belfast, Orkney to Cumbria, and Gwynedd to the Scottish Highlands, exquisitely written and softly observed snapshots emerge – of fishes lurking in dusky pools, of age-old trees beneath deep blue skies, of lives being lived alongside the ebbs and flows of the natural world.

Bringing together the finest contributions to the column from recent years, Under the Changing Skies is an essential companion for all those with a deep love for the British countryside, charting its subtle changes over the course of the seasons.

With contributions from Cal Flyn, Mark Cocker, Josie George, Nicola Chester, Lev Parikian, Amy-Jane Beer, Kate Bradbury, Andrea Meanwell and many others.

Here is an extract:

Author Talk: ‘Daybreak in Gaza’ with Matthew Teller and Mahmoud Muna

Last night we hosted conversation with editors Matthew Teller and Mahmoud Muna talking about their new book Daybreak in Gaza, an incredible and insightful collection of stories of Palestinian lives and culture. They were joined by guests Jayyab Abusafia and Juliette Touma, contributors to this book.

Daybreak in Gaza is a record of extraordinary places and people, and of a culture preserved by the people themselves. Vignette of artists, acrobats, doctors, students, shopkeepers and teachers offer stories of love, life, loss and survival. They display the wealth of Gaza’s cultural landscape and breadth of its history.

Map of the Month: Australia’s Big Things Map

Our Map of the Month for October is the wonderfully illustrated Australia’s Big Things Map by UBD Gregory’s.

“One of the more cherishable peculiarities of Australians is that they like to build big things in the shape of other things. Give them a bale of chicken wire, some fibreglass and a couple pots of paint and they will make you, say, an enormous pineapple or strawberry or, as here, a lobster. Then they put a café and a gift shop inside, erect a big sign beside the highway…, then sit back and wait for the money to roll in.” – Bill Bryson, ‘Down Under’, 2000, Doubleday.

Dating back to the 1960s, there are currently hundreds of these giant sculptures dotted around the Country.

Children’s Book of the Month: Maisie vs Antarctica

Our Children’s Book of the Month for October is Maisie vs Antarctica by Jack Jackman.

Adventure awaits the most daring of readers in this epic father-daughter expedition filled with thrills, spills and even a few supernatural chills.

Maisie thinks her dad is the most boring person in the world. For fun, he does origami (but only triangles) or jigsaw puzzles of a cloudless sky (yep, every piece is blue). But he also writes super cool sounding books like How To Wrestle a Crocodile and How to Diffuse a Bomb, even though he’s never actually done any of those things . . . or has he?

Book of the Month: Myths of Geography

Our Book of the Month for October is Myths of Geography: Eight Ways We Get the World Wrong by Paul Richardson.

Is geography really destiny? Our maps may no longer be stalked by dragons and monsters, but our perceptions of the world are still shaped by geographic myths. Myths like Europe being the centre of the world. Or that border walls are the solution to migration. Or that Russia is predestined to threaten its neighbours.

Stanfords Event: Table Talks with Karen McLeod and Travis Elborough

Last week we hosted the first of our Table Talks – which include wine, delicious nibbles and fabulous conversation around the table, talking about all things books, travel and life journeys.

We were thrilled to welcome authors Karen McLeod and Travis Elborough to discuss Karen’s new book Lifting off.

Lifting Off: A Life in Freefall by Karen McLeod

Karen McLeod’s account of flying as long-haul cabin crew offers a fascinating insight into the profound impact of airline life. Having come out as a lesbian shortly before getting the job, she is forced to go back in as colleagues advise her that it’s not OK to be gay, unlike male cabin crew. Lifting Off is a fly on the wall tale of flying long-haul, drinking miniatures, hotel bedroom parties with the rest of the crew, one-night stands in exotic locations and the loneliness of having to deny your true self. It is the story of how Karen McLeod saved herself and finally came into land.

Lifting Off came out of trying to write that difficult second novel. Karen realised she had to confront her past before she could write creatively again.

In the 1990s Karen had begun performing as a drag queen, impersonating men impersonating women. This was found to be too unorthodox even on the drag scene so Karen created Barbara who is the inverse of mainstream drag. She hides her hair, makes her legs unflattering in pop socks and wears a shapeless cagoule. The Sunday Times described Barbara as ‘Rik Mayall meets performance art’ and she is now a regular across the UK gay cabaret, literary and comedy community

‘An absorbing and often hilarious account of the author’s 12 years as closeted cabin crew for BA & the profound impact that had on her life as a gay woman’ The Bookseller, Editor’s Choice

‘Beautiful, wise and funny…I really did love it’ Evie Wyld

‘Witty, irreverent, deeply felt and exquisitely written…I can’t recommend this memoir enough. Stunning’ Joelle Taylor

About the speakers:

Karen McLeod is writer in residence at independent bookseller, The Bookseller Crow on the Hill and a visiting lecture in creative writing at UCAS. She performs comedy as Barbara Brownskirt and regularly works with Polari the LGBTQ+ Literary Salon.

Travis Elborough

Described by the Guardian as ‘one of the country’s finest pop culture historians’, Travis Elborough is the author of many books, including Wish You Were Here: England on Sea, The Long-Player Goodbye, Through the Looking Glasses: The Spectacular Life of Spectacles and Atlas of Vanishing Places, winner of Edward Stanford Travel Book Award in 2020.

Keep an eye on our events page or subscribe to our newsletter for news about our next Table Talk.

Author talk: Mapping the Global Story of Money with Dariusz Wójcik and James Cheshire

It was a full house at Stanfords last night to hear Dariusz Wójcik and James Cheshire talk about the Atlas of Finance: Mapping the Global Story of Money.

Pre-order Tim Marshall’s NEW book to be entered into our competition

Pre-order your copy of Tim Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography: The Quiz Book from Stanfords to be in with the chance to win the following prizes: