podcast – Page 3 – Stanfords Blog

Dr Jon Copley: Exploring the Ocean Depths: Stanfords Travel Writers Festival 2020

The wellbeing of our oceans has never been more important. But to truly understand the vital role they play, we need to first understand how the oceans work, how we explore them and learn about the mysteries they hold, and what our effect is on them. Combining untold history of ocean exploration and personal account of what it’s like to be a ‘bathynaut’ diving in a mini-submarine, Jonathan Copley brings to light weird and wonderful deep-sea creatures and how the oceans and their future is connected to our everyday lives.

Ben Aitken: An Unlikely Year in Poland: Stanfords Travel Writers Festival 2020

In 2016 Ben Aitken moved to Poland to work in a fish and chip shop. He booked the cheapest flight he could find, to a place he had never heard of – Poznan. Between peeling potatoes and boning fish, Ben spent time on the road travelling the country and learning about its history. Talking to Julia Wheeler, Ben gives a bittersweet portrait of an unsung country, challenging stereotypes and revealing a diverse country, rightfully proud of its colourful identity.

John Hudson: How to Survive: Stanfords Travel Writers Festival 2020

John Hudson talks to Paul Blezard about how strategies for life or death situations can help us excel in our everyday lives. Through gripping first-hand accounts of survival stories from across the extreme world you can develop the skills that allow you to make better decisions under pressure, which are as equally applicable to your interactions with colleagues or family, job interviews and public speaking, as to tackling Mount Everest.

Sara Wheeler: Travels Through Russia: Stanfords Travel Writers Festival 2020

At a time of deteriorating relations between Russia and the West, Sara Wheeler talks to Julia Wheeler about a Russia not in the news – a Russia of humanity and daily struggles. Taking us across eight time zones, from rinsed north-western beetroot fields and far-eastern Arctic tundra to the cauldron of ethnic soup that is the Caucasus. She gives voice to the ‘ordinary’ people of Russia, and discovers how the writers of the Golden Age continue to represent their country today.

Dom Joly: A Short Walk Across the Lebanon: Stanfords Travel Writers Festival 2020

Dom Joly talks to Julia Wheeler about his book The Hezbollah Hiking Club, in which he writes about hiking across Lebanon, from the Israeli border in the south, along the spine of the country’s mountain range, all the way to the Syrian border in the north. It is a big-hearted, witty and affectionate love letter to Lebanon and its rich history with a meditation on family and homeland at its heart. With Dom’s trademark humour, it is a paean to both the simple joys of friendship and to growing old disgracefully.

The Hezbollah Hiking Club by Dom Joly

Philip Parker: History of Maps in Britain: Stanfords Travel Writers Festival 2020

From Mappa Mundi to modern election maps, the United Kingdom has evolved rapidly, along with the ways in which it has been mapped. During this time, cartography has not only kept pace with these changes, but has often driven them. In his beautiful book, Philip Parker talks to Julia Wheeler about some of these maps that give a visual representation of the history of Britain.

History of Britain in Mapsby Philip Parker

Matt Dickinson: The Death Zone: Stanfords Travel Writers Festival 2020

Matt Dickinson talks to Phoebe Smith about his first-hand experience of living through one of the most devastating storms ever to hit Mount Everest, a storm in which many lost their lives. Tackling issues at the very heart of mountaineering, Matt tells an extraordinary story of human triumph, folly and disaster.

The Death Zone by Matt Dickinson

Jung Chang: Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Stanfords Travel Writers Festival 2020

Jung Chang reveals the lives of three extraordinary women who helped shape twentieth-century China. As the country battled through a hundred years of wars, revolutions and seismic transformations, the three Soong sisters from Shanghai were at the centre of power, and each of them left an indelible mark on history. Their story takes us on a sweeping journey from Canton to Hawaii to New York, from exiles’ quarters in Japan and Berlin to secret meeting rooms in Moscow, and from the compounds of the Communist elite in Beijing to the corridors of power in democratic Taiwan. Followed by a Q&A with Julia Wheeler.

Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister by Jung Chang

David Barrie: Exploring the Wonders of Animal Navigation: Stanfords Travel Writers Festival 2020

David Barrie talks to Paul Blezard about the navigational tools that animals (including humans) use, whether it is celestial, solar, magnetic fields, landmarks or even scent, and the difference between map and non- map-based navigation. He also presents the evidence of map-like representations of the world in animals’ brains. While humans increasingly rely on technology for navigation, how will that that impact on the relationship we have with the world around us?

Incredible Journeys by David Barrie

Walking in the Footsteps Of… : Stanfords Travel Writers Festival

How often have you read a travel book and thought about how you would love to recreate that journey? Well these three authors did just that and even turned those journeys into books of their own. Join us as Paul Blezard talks to Jacki Hill-Murphy who has followed the footsteps of a number of early female explorers and adventurers, Alastair Humphreys who busked his way around Spain with a violin he could barely play inspired by Laurie Lee’s As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and Ben Aitken who retraced Bill Bryson’s journey from Notes from a Small Island.

The authors also read extracts from their books.

The Extraordinary Tale of Kate Marsden and my Journey Across Siberia in her Footsteps by Jacki Hill-Murphy