As Stanfords has been a well-known name in London since 1853 we’ve managed to build a real network of friends in the community from other local businesses to friendly faces of people working and living in the area. One of those faces that many of you may well know is André Rostant, the Big Issue vendor who is a published author and poet.
To celebrate André’s book The Muffin Man, published earlier this year, he will be in conversation here at Stanfords, Covent Garden with the author and comedian Dom Joly. Join us for a brilliant and insightful evening talking about André’s book and raising awareness and support for the Big Issue.
Last night we hosted a sold out talk with Georgina Howard who spoke about her new book In the Footsteps of Smugglers published by Bradt.
“It was the enigmatic mountain paths winding their way from one Basque village to the next along smugglers’ tracks and over humpback bridges that seduced us all…”
In 2022 Georgina Howard co-presented a programme on the Basque Pyrenees with Michael Portillo. This book is her travel memoir, ‘In the Footsteps of Smugglers’, about her life in a remote Basque hamlet of the Spanish Pyrenees. Twenty-five years ago, Georgina moved into an isolated barn in a tiny, close-knit community of Basque shepherds. Taking this eccentric British woman and single mother into the fold, her neighbours helped her raise her Basque/English daughter, Marion, transform her barn into an international walking and language company and introduce her deep into the enigmatic and little-known Basque mountain culture.
The story then follows Georgina’s footfall into the Spanish/French borderlands of the Pyrenees and the heart of the former Basque smuggling fraternity. She has guided people the world over along these smugglers’ trails and focused her research on the WW2 escape routes of the Comet Line that led Allied airmen out of occupied France in to Spain. Speaking Spanish, French and Basque, she has formed personal relationships with the last remaining members of this 1941 – 1944 resistance network – then mere children – and their stories of fear, courage and secrecy are documented in detail within the pages of her book. With the help of colourful vignettes and deep anthropological insight, ‘In the Footsteps of Smugglers’ digs deep behind the scenes into all things quintessentially Basque. It also offers a rhapsody in cultural identity as this cosmopolitan nomad, and single mother, finally turns to the Basque shepherds to find home.
We had a moving and insightful event here at Stanfords on Wednesday evening hearing all aboutHow Good It Is I Have No Fear of Dying with Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko and her fight for Ukraine and author and journalist Lara Marlowe.
Lara Marlowe first interviewed Lieutenant Mykytenko in 2023, for an article about women in the Ukrainian military for The Irish Times. Marlowe described Mykytenko as ‘one of the most extraordinary people I have interviewed in 42 years of journalism’. How Good It Is I Have No Fear of Dying offers a rare, first-hand insight into the lives of Ukrainian soldiers defending their homeland against Russian aggression and highlights the contribution of women to the Ukrainian military.
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 bookAn Irishman in Northern Mesopotamia.
We had a wonderful evening hearing about our Book of the Month Four Points of the Compass Event: The Unexpected History of Direction by Jerry Brotton. He was joined by a special guest, the recipient of our 2024 Edward Stanford Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing Award, Nicholas Crane.
Last night we had a wonderful evening hearing Simon Parker talk about his 4,000-mile adventure. A Ride Across America is an account of his journey through the small towns and big issues of the USA.
Last night we hosted a wonderful conversation with travel writers Ben Aitken and Ash Bhardwaj where they talked about their latest books Here Comes the Fun and Why We Travel. They spoke about discovering the connections between our need for fun and our desire for travel, and exploring how a bit more of each can enrich our lives and boost our wellbeing – without breaking the bank or the planet.
