Last night we hosted an event with renowned travel and architecture writer Christopher Beanland as he spoke about his new book Station: A Journey Through 20th And 21st Century Railway Architecture And Design published by Batsford.
Continue reading Author Event: Station by Christopher BeanlandCategory: Events at Stanfords
Book Launch: ‘The Long Water’ by Stef Penney
Last night we hosted the launch of The Long Water by Stef Penney.
Author Event: High Caucasus by Tom Parfitt
To celebrate the paperback launch of this 2024 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, Travel Book of the Year shortlisted book, Tom Parfitt came to Stanfords last night to talk to Tom de Waal about High Caucasus. It was such a fascinating, moving and sobering evening hearing these two experts on the region talk about reminiscences and predictions.
Author Talk: Atlas of Imagined Cities by Matt Brown, Rhys B. Davies and Mike Hall
Last night we welcomed the award winning team from Atlas of Imagined Cities, Matt Brown, Rhys B. Davies and Mike Hall to Stanfords for a fun filled evening.
Following the success of their Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award winning previous book Atlas Of Imagined Places, this new atlas looks specifically at cities.
From the Ghostbusters HQ in New York to Nemo’s fish tank in Sydney, from the Phantom of the Opera’s Parisian lair to scenes from Grand Theft Auto in LA, this is an amazing atlas of imaginary locations in real-life cities around the world. Locations from film, TV, books, computer games and comics are ingeniously plotted on a series of beautiful vintage-looking maps.
Continue reading Author Talk: Atlas of Imagined Cities by Matt Brown, Rhys B. Davies and Mike Hall
Author Event: Lost Paths by Jack Cornish
Last night we hosted an event with Jack Cornish and heard all about his new book Lost Paths.
Hundreds of thousands of miles of paths reach into, and connect, communities across England and Wales. By 2026, 10,000 miles of undiscovered footpaths around Britain stand to be lost. Jack Cornish has dedicated the last five years of his life to walking these forgotten routes, and this book, The Lost Paths, is the result. It is Jack Cornish’s hope that The Lost Paths will show just how special these forgotten rights of way are, and how embedded each path is in the history of Britain.
Footpaths, tracks, country lanes and urban streets illuminate how our ancestors interacted with and shaped their landscapes in the pursuit of commerce, salvation, escape, war, and leisure. Paths are an often-overlooked part of our everyday life and our country’s history, crucial to understanding the cultural and environmental history of us in the landscape.
After dedicating his time and energy to fighting for their survival, The Lost Paths is Jack’s personal journey and exploration of the deep history of English and Welsh footways. This narrative history takes us through ancient forests, exposed mountainsides, urban back streets and coastal vistas to reveal how this millennia-old network was created and has been transformed.
This is a celebration of an ancient network and a rallying cry to reclaim what has been lost and preserve it for future generations.
The Lost Paths is available now for £20. We have signed copies while stocks last.
Read a Guest Blog Post from Jack Cornish about Ways to Spot a Lost Path.
Book Launch: Children of the Volcano by Ros Belford
Last night we hosted the launch of Ros Belford’s new book Children of the Volcano: Finding Freedom and Making a Home for Three in Sicily.
This is an uplifting, humorous memoir of a mother building a new life on a beautiful Sicilian island.
Reeling from a broken relationship, Ros Belford decides the best chance she has of healing, while giving her daughters a childhood to remember, is to move to Italy and live by the sea.
After a false start in a town where machismo is ingrained, they find the small, lush, delightful island of Salina. Izzy and Juno grow up playing on the beach, learning to swim over volcanic bubbles, hearing tales of Aeolian witches and watching Stromboli erupt on the horizon. It is not entirely paradise, however. The school is atrocious, there are power cuts and an earthquake, and property speculators threaten the island’s fragile beauty. But an eclectic community of islanders take them to their hearts, friendships are forged and Salina becomes home.
Full of humanity, vitality, honesty and optimism, Children of the Volcano is for anyone unwilling to give up dreams of adventure and excitement simply because of parenthood, lack of money and not getting things right the first time.
Children of the Volcano by Ros Belford is available now for £19.99. We have signed copies while stocks last.
Book Launch: Slow Trains to Istanbul by Tom Chesshyre
Last week we hosted the launch of our June Book of the Month Slow Trains to Istanbul by Tom Chesshyre.
From London via Paris, Naples, Nuremberg, the Swiss Alps, Budapest, Athens and into the furthest corners of Eastern Europe across Romania and Bulgaria, join Tom Chesshyre on his fascinating journey to Istanbul and back
Ever dreamt of dropping everything and adventuring cross-country to the edge of Asia? That’s just what rail enthusiast Tom Chesshyre did, hitting the tracks for a 4,570-mile adventure on 55 rides, shadowing the old Orient Express route.
Interrailing was once the realm of young backpackers setting off to “find themselves” – and for many, it still is. But it’s also a joyful and eco-friendly twenty-first century adventure that’s open to us all, no matter our age or agenda. Dodging striking train drivers in Germany, getting stuck by the Bulgarian-Greek border, and negotiating tricky passport officials in Turkey is all part of the fun in this illuminating and meandering journey around Europe.
Month Slow Trains to Istanbul by Tom Chesshyre is available now for £20.
All our copies are signed by the author while stocks last.
Author Event: Drink Maps in Victorian Britain by Kris Butler
“This is the story of drink maps, and it’s probably not what you think”
Last week we were joined by Kris Butler for a fascinating exploration of the history of alcohol in Victorian Britain via the ‘drink maps’ that were produced by the temperance movement to promote sobriety.
It’s not about pub crawls or plotted ale trails. Instead, these are maps with an agenda that was adamantly hostile to drinking alcohol, made by an organized faction known as the Temperance Movement. The logic at the time of the maps’ creation went as follows: if people are shown how many places there are to buy alcohol, they will be so appalled that they will join the effort to end drinking. In hindsight this logic is obviously flawed.’
Drink Maps in Victorian Britain explores how drink maps of cities were published to fight increasingly rampant alcohol consumption, from Liverpool,Manchester and Sheffield to Oxford, London, and Norwich.
Continue reading Author Event: Drink Maps in Victorian Britain by Kris Butler
Author Event: French Windows by Antoine Laurain
On Tuesday evening we hosted an evening of discussion, storytelling and murder mystery with award winning author Antoine Laurain as he spoke to Jake Kerridge about his superb new novel French Windows, a surprising and suspenseful murder mystery, reminiscent of Hitchcock with a Parisian heart.
Author talk: D-Day Landings
Last week we hosted a really interesting event with Mary Ann Evans and Alastair McKenzie as they spoke about their new book D-Day Landings: a Travel Guide to Normandy’s Beaches and Battlegrounds.
Published to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the military mission that changed World War II, this is Bradt’s new guidebook to visiting beaches, memorials, museums, battlefields and other sites associated with D-Day and the Battle of Normandy (Operation Overlord). A simple-to-follow, portable guide for independent travellers, it includes maps and driving instructions to help visitors go back in time to explore World War II history.
