✍ Signed by the author
‘My Friends’ by Hisham Matar
This tender and powerful novel, now out in paperback, is the story of three Libyan men living in London, far away from their homeland. It’s a story of belonging, of shared trauma and ultimately, what it means to be human.
Continue reading ‘My Friends’ by Hisham MatarIf you are making plans for 2025 and want some travel inspiration, these books are jam packed with places to go at the right times of year so you can book a dream trip and not miss a thing.
£14.99
Want to know more about the emerging travel hotspots and best value destinations for 2025? You’ve come to the right place. Lonely Planet’s expert panel of self-confessed travel geeks have joined forces once again to present a year’s worth of exciting must-visit places and out-of-this-world experiences. This annual guide ranks the world’s hottest countries, regions, and cities. Featuring a top 10 lists plus NEW top 10 categories, amazing photography and insider tips, you’ll find mountains of inspiration to take you from the ordinary to the unforgettable.
£22.99
The Intrepid List is the very first travel guidebook from world-renowned experts in adventure, Intrepid Travel. But this isn’t a bucket list book – this is for the explorers, the thrillseekers, the festivalgoers and foodies who want to get under the skin of a place; to discover local secrets and experience the eccentric, the rare and the astonishing. This book is filled with over 100 unique travel experiences that will inspire you to discover new destinations or find a new perspective on the classics. You know that it’s not just about the place, but who you meet and how you get there, and this guide guarantees you’ll have that all wrapped into one exciting package.
Continue reading Books Full of 2025 Travel InspirationIf you are looking for inspiration for new walks to go on in 2025, the new, thoroughly updated second edition of Bradt’s Freedom Pass London brings to life the UK capital through 25 carefully curated walks that reveal historical landmarks, wildlife hotspots and quiet corners with fascinating pasts. As the title suggests, this travel guidebook is designed for the 1 million people who can enjoy free travel in central and Greater London thanks to the Freedom Pass, but its focus on walking destinations accessible by public transport makes it a must for anyone living in or visiting London.
Continue reading Bradt’s Freedom Pass LondonLet us take you on a quick trip around the world via these four selected books that are currently on our shelves here at Stanfords:
by Han Fan, translated by Jeremy Tiang
£13.99
Set in: Malaysia
From 1976 to 1989, Hai Fan was part of the guerrilla forces of the Malayan Communist Party. These short stories are inspired by his experiences during his thirteen years in the rainforest.
Continue reading Around the World in 4 BooksThe Intrepid List is not a bucket list; it’s almost the opposite. This is a curation of precious moments experienced by our travellers that have never been forgotten. It aims to inspire you to explore a little further and delve a little deeper, to engage with communities, look below the surface and open yourself to new learnings. This is the way to find the kinds of experiences that will stay with you forever so you can form your own personal Intrepid List.
Within the 10 themed sections are experiences from more than 55 countries worldwide. They range from daring to caring, wild to mild. Change the way you travel with The Intrepid List; discover local secrets and experience the eccentric, the rare and the astonishing.
Writer and journalist Laurence Blair shares the inside story behind Patria: Lost Countries of South America, a dazzling history of the continent available now.
-by Laurence Blair
In eastern Peru, where the Andes crumple into the Amazon, lies Espíritu Pampa: a labyrinth of jungle-shrouded chambers, temples and tombs. Though rarely visited today, this was the capital of The Vilcabamba: a fragment of the Inca Empire where four emperors held out for a generation after the Spanish landed in Peru. “Imagine,” says Jorge Cobos, whose family helped explorers identify the ruins just decades ago. “There are lots of buildings left to discover in the forest. And beyond, in the mountains: who knows?”
The Vilcabamba is just one of the vanished kingdoms, nations and territories featured in my non-fiction debut PATRIA: Lost Countries of South America, which hit bookshelves across the UK last week. In my decade covering the continent as a foreign correspondent – rafting down Amazonian rivers with Colombian rebels, helicoptering into marijuana plantations with Paraguayan special forces, and following Venezuelan refugees into the lawless Darien jungle – I’ve witnessed South America’s fragile natural beauty and searing inequality up close. Stretching from the edge of Antarctica to the shores of the Caribbean, it’s a cultural, culinary, and economic powerhouse that feeds, fuels and cools the planet.
Continue reading Patria by Laurence BlairIn his book The White Ladder: Triumph and Tragedy at the Dawn of Mountaineering, Daniel Light uncovers the true story of the thrill-seekers, map-makers, soldiers, occultists, artists and porters who paved the way for modern mountaineering. Ahead of his event here at Stanfords, Covent Garden on Thursday 21st November, Daniel gives us a snippet of mountaineering history as he looks at some attempts at the Himalayan region.
-by Daniel Light
The American climber and explorer Fanny Bullock Workman arrived in Darjeeling in the dying days of the nineteenth century intent on leading an expedition into the heart of the Sikkim Himalaya. There, she and her husband Hunter hoped to reach record-breaking heights on some of the highest mountains on Earth.
Last week we hosted a wonderful launch event where we heard from writer and filmmaker Kae Bahar who introduced his fascinating novel The Good, The Bad and The Gringo, a captivating tale of a young Kurdish man growing up in Iraq, confused about his gender and Saddam’s cruel terror.
Finding Solace from Saddam’s terror in the world of Cinema.
Growing up as a Kurd in Saddam’s Iraq, Merywan feels he doesn’t belong to this twisted society, but finds inspiration and comfort in the magic world of cinema.
He secretly writes letters to his hero, Clint Eastwood, whom he calls Gringo, begging him to help him escape to America. As his plans are disrupted, Merywan is drawn deeper into a roller – coaster ride of savagery, passion, betrayal and heroism, which makes the movies he adores almost seem trivial by comparison.
Continue reading Author Talk: The Good the Bad and the Gringo by Kae Bahar
It’s always such an honour when Sir Michael Palin drops by to sign his books. The latest book by the former recipient of the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing, There and Back: Diaries 1999-2009, is the fourth volume of his bestselling diaries.
Continue reading Michael Palin: There and Back: Diaries 1999-2009-Guest post by Tiffany Murray, author of My Family and Other Rock Stars.
Continue reading A Childhood Memory of Place in ‘My Family and Other Rock Stars’‘Rockfield Studios is a farm with rock ’n’ roll and my mother is the cordon bleu chef. In the Quadrangle’s blue kitchen, she plays ‘That Ain’t the Way to Behave’ by Dr Feelgood, and ‘How Long’ by Ace, because she fed these songs. In our chalet (which she calls a converted stable) she keeps live shellfish in the bath, and they spit at me when I’m on the loo. Rockfield Studios is a kingdom of fields all the way to Monmouth. There are horses and cows and sheep, echo chambers and control rooms at Rockfield. Managers and record labels call the two studios ‘the Quadrangle’ and ‘the Coach House’, but we say, ‘Studio One’ and ‘Studio Two’. Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds walk the tracks as big trucks filled with instruments and amps turn in the yard, and even though the Old Mill is a drive away, when the wind blows, I’m sure I can hear Black Sabbath rehearse. At Rockfield my night sounds are back: the dof-da—da, doof-da-da of drums, the high whine of electric guitar.
Mum and I are safe here; even if Hawkwind throw open the double doors of the studio in the middle of the night and wake me with ‘The Wizard Blew His Horn’.
It’s my lullaby.’
