Some truly remarkable works of literature have been inspired by writers spending time travelling. From epic road trips and arduous treks into remote territories, to cultural tours and sojourns in the finest hotels, author Travis Elborough explores 35 influential journeys taken by literary greats and reveals the repercussions of those travels on the authors’ personal lives and the broader literary landscape. Travis talks to Ash Bhardwaj, exploring some of the great minds and great books that have been inspired by some of remarkable travels.
What are the benefits of travelling, and why do so many of us feel compelled to do it? Ash Bhardwaj, author of Why We Travel, is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster, whose work explores the intersection of travel, current affairs and human behaviour. Phoebe Smith is an award-winning adventurer, presenter, broadcaster, author and photographer. She hosts the Wander Woman Podcast and is Sleep Storyteller-in-Residence at Calm.com.
Together they talk to Ann Morgan about the transformative power of travel.
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.
The 2017 recipient of the Edward Stanford Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing, and our good friend Sir Michael Palin has been gracing our televisions again with his three-part Channel 5 series Michael Palin in Nigeria. If that has inspired you to read/ re-read his back catalogue, Orion have just re-released his bestselling travel books with revamped paperback covers.
Travel with Laura Coffey through Greek Myth with Enchanted Islands, a magical story of love, loss and the real-life islands that inspired the oldest travel story of all time…
A lyrical odyssey about love, loss and Greek myth, Enchanted Islands is a new book that weaves together Laura’s experience navigating heartbreak and grief with her quest to map the real-life islands that inspired the wanderings of Homer’s epic hero, Odysseus. Stephen Fry called it “magical and captivating – hugely recommended” It’s not remotely academic, and you don’t need to know anything about Greek myth to enjoy it.
“If you love memoir and Greek mythology this is a delight. Coffey escapes a grim and lonely pandemic for volcanos and orange-blossom brioche, kingfishers and tales of Circe. But life lies ready to sting, like the Medusa jellyfish she encounters on her evening swims. A spellbinding book about growing up, grieving and the Gods” ― Clare Pollard, author of Delphi
Stanfords fans will love this book because it blends together travel and maps, two of our favourite things. And interestingly none of the islands Laura visited were in modern-day Greece. You’ll need to read the book to find out where she went…
The Shortlist for the 2023 Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year has been announced. The award, which was open to authors from all across the world, celebrates excellence in literary travel writing.
Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year Shortlist:
Rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific, the Amur River forms the tense border between Russia and China. This is the most densely fortified frontier on Earth.
In his eightieth year, Colin Thubron takes a dramatic and often treacherous journey from the Amur’s secret source to its giant mouth, covering almost 3,000 miles. Harassed by injury and by arrest from the local police, he makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores. By the time he reaches the river’s desolate end, a whole, pivotal world has come alive.
To celebrate the paperback launch of the 2022 Stanford Dolman winning The Amur River by Colin Thubron here are some photographs taken on the journey.
My Family and Other Enemies is part travelogue, part memoir that dives into the hinterland of Croatia. Mary Novakovich explores her ongoing relationship with the region of Lika in central Croatia, where her parents were born. In recounting her own family’s tumultuous history, Novakovich opens up a world that is little known outside the Balkans, telling the stories of people whose experiences weren’t widely reported at the time, when the devastation in Croatia was superseded by the Bosnian conflict and media attention moved elsewhere.
In 1867, so the story goes, Mariano Melgarejo, the 15th president of Bolivia, asked the British ambassador to pay respects to his latest mistress. When the request was haughtily declined, Melgarejo, whose time in office was marked by brutality and political miscalculation, took great offence. The ambassador was swiftly apprehended, stripped naked, tied to an ass – facing the rear, naturally – and paraded around the main square of La Paz, before being kicked out of the country.
Journalist Nellie Bly made history on Roosevelt Island in New York City in 1887. On 10 December 2021 she did it again. I was there.
The Girl Puzzle monument, honouring the life and legacy of Nellie Bly, was unveiled steps away from the scene where she pioneered a brave new journalism. Investigative reporting was born when Bly feigned madness to investigate the brutality suffered by vulnerable women committed to the insane asylum on the island bordering Manhattan. Her accounts in The New York World and book Ten Days in a Mad-House horrified the public and brought about sweeping changes.
