It was a full house at Stanfords last night as we hosted a talk to celebrate the launch of the Slow Ways Pocket Atlas. The atlas creators Charlie Peel, Hannah Engelkamp and Daniel Raven-Ellison explained the initial ideas and the evolution that lead to the finished atlas.
On Thursday we hosted the second of our Table Talks – which include wine, delicious nibbles and fabulous conversation around the table, talking about all things books, travel and life journeys.
We were thrilled to welcome authors Tiffany Murray and Travis Elborough talking about Tiffany’s new book My Family and Other Rock Stars sharing stories, recipes, songs and experiences, a fun evening not to be missed.
Continue reading Stanfords Event: Table Talk with Tiffany Murray and Travis ElboroughWe had a moving and insightful event here at Stanfords on Wednesday evening hearing all about How 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.
Continue reading Author Talk: How Good It Is I Have No Fear of Dying-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.’
A brand new atlas of walking routes connecting all of Britain’s towns, cities and national landscapes by Slow Ways CIC and Urban Good.
Discover a network of over 9,000 walking routes connecting all of Britain’s towns, cities and national landscapes. This bright and beautiful new collection of maps shows every Slow Way route in Great Britain, which between them join up 2500 settlements via 130,000km of existing paths, lanes and trails. Use the pocket atlas to dream of journeys. Colour in where you’ve been or where you’d like to go. This pocket atlas has been made thanks to thousands of people. Contributors have volunteered hundreds of thousands of hours plotting, walking, wheeling, testing and reviewing the routes. In this atlas you can find out more about the Slow Ways movement, how it is changing what we think is possible, and creating a network of connection and joy!
The creator
Urban Good CIC and Slow Ways CIC have worked together on mapping the new walking network from the start. Their existing maps have a popular and unique style to highlight the routes. Both organisations are Community Interest Companies.
Available in store from 24th October
Tuesday 22nd October19:00 – 20:30.
Stanfords London, 7 Mercer Walk, Covent Garden, WC2H 9FA
We invite you to join us for the official launch of the Slow Ways Pocket Atlas. The evening will feature talks from Hannah Engelkamp, Daniel Raven-Ellison, and Charlie Peel, who will share the stories behind the making of this atlas and the powerful movement that connects over 2,500 towns and cities through over 9,000 walking routes.
Tickets £7 Includes glass of wine/soft drink and a discount off the book when purchased on the evening. Buy tickets here.
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 book An Irishman in Northern Mesopotamia .
Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian’s Country Diary, 2018-2024 takes us on a beautiful journey through the British countryside, drawn from The Guardian’s beloved Country Diary. With an introduction by Ian McMillan, and illustrations by Clifford Harper.
For over a century, The Guardian’s Country Diary has published the nation’s most celebrated writers of natural history as they capture the essence of the British countryside.
From Yorkshire to Belfast, Orkney to Cumbria, and Gwynedd to the Scottish Highlands, exquisitely written and softly observed snapshots emerge – of fishes lurking in dusky pools, of age-old trees beneath deep blue skies, of lives being lived alongside the ebbs and flows of the natural world.
Bringing together the finest contributions to the column from recent years, Under the Changing Skies is an essential companion for all those with a deep love for the British countryside, charting its subtle changes over the course of the seasons.
With contributions from Cal Flyn, Mark Cocker, Josie George, Nicola Chester, Lev Parikian, Amy-Jane Beer, Kate Bradbury, Andrea Meanwell and many others.
Here is an extract:
Continue reading Extract- Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian’s Country Diary, 2018-2024Last night we hosted conversation with editors Matthew Teller and Mahmoud Muna talking about their new book Daybreak in Gaza, an incredible and insightful collection of stories of Palestinian lives and culture. They were joined by guests Jayyab Abusafia and Juliette Touma, contributors to this book.
Daybreak in Gaza is a record of extraordinary places and people, and of a culture preserved by the people themselves. Vignette of artists, acrobats, doctors, students, shopkeepers and teachers offer stories of love, life, loss and survival. They display the wealth of Gaza’s cultural landscape and breadth of its history.
Continue reading Author Talk: ‘Daybreak in Gaza’ with Matthew Teller and Mahmoud MunaOur Map of the Month for October is the wonderfully illustrated Australia’s Big Things Map by UBD Gregory’s.
“One of the more cherishable peculiarities of Australians is that they like to build big things in the shape of other things. Give them a bale of chicken wire, some fibreglass and a couple pots of paint and they will make you, say, an enormous pineapple or strawberry or, as here, a lobster. Then they put a café and a gift shop inside, erect a big sign beside the highway…, then sit back and wait for the money to roll in.” – Bill Bryson, ‘Down Under’, 2000, Doubleday.
Dating back to the 1960s, there are currently hundreds of these giant sculptures dotted around the Country.
Our Children’s Book of the Month for October is Maisie vs Antarctica by Jack Jackman.
Adventure awaits the most daring of readers in this epic father-daughter expedition filled with thrills, spills and even a few supernatural chills.
Maisie thinks her dad is the most boring person in the world. For fun, he does origami (but only triangles) or jigsaw puzzles of a cloudless sky (yep, every piece is blue). But he also writes super cool sounding books like How To Wrestle a Crocodile and How to Diffuse a Bomb, even though he’s never actually done any of those things . . . or has he?
Continue reading Children’s Book of the Month: Maisie vs Antarctica
