I’m a huge fan of Raynor Winn’s bestseller The Salt Path and so was very happy to be asked to review her forthcoming book The Wild Silence for the September/October edition off Resurgence & Ecologist magazine, which has just been published. The review isn’t available online, but you can read it here it is as it appears in the print copy of the magazine.
It’s a lovely surprise to have been shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2020. These are the main publishing industry awards for travel writing, so it’s a great honour to have been included for my first book. I’ve been travel writing for 18 years now (journalism mostly) but The Country of Larks is my first proper book. Roll on the awards ceremony on February 26th!
I’m delighted that my first proper book, a travel narrative about the Chilterns — a blend of travel, history, politics and nature — will be published next spring by Bradt . After a peripatetic early childhood our family settled in a Chiltern commuter village on the borders of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. Although aged eighteen I couldn’t wait to leave, I have recently rediscovered the quiet allure of the hills and dells of my youth. I may have left long ago, but the Chilterns still matter to me.
More to follow in due course…
I’m just back from teaching a residential course for Bath Spa University’s MA in Travel & Nature Writing in Valencia province, Spain. We stayed in the lovely mountain village of Sella, where we spent a week exploring the local countryside and culture – and writing about it!
Here’s a photo of the group hard at work, with Sella in the background. If you’d like to learn more about the MA you can read about it here.
See you in Spain next year?
Earlier this year I was awarded a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Reading, and graduated on a hot, sunny day in July. My old friend and talented portrait photographer took some pictures of me in my raspberry doctoral gown and Tudor-style hat. Thank you Snapdragon Photography!
The Queen Of Jordan, that is! I’m just back from a press trip to write about the new Jordan Trail for the Telegraph, and on the last day we were unexpected (for security reasons) summoned to meet HM Queen Rania, who is a fantastic ambassador for for her country. She was glamorous and charming, spoke perfect English, and was genuinely interested in the Jordan Trail project, which has been almost thirty years in the making. Flying home from Jordan yesterday I picked up a copy of the Jordan Times to read on the flight, and found a report of Queen Rania’s visit, including a group photo (I’m in the bottom left-hand corner of the picture, in the lilac scarf). All in all, I walked 60 kms through spectacular mountain scenery to Petra, before the royal visit. An amazing finale to an amazing trip!
In January I expressed the hope of returning to the Middle East to resume my travel journalism after a few years where this took a back seat due to the uncertain political situation, and the (quite understandable) reluctance for editors to commission travel features about the region. Well, it looks like my hopes have been realised, and I will be returning very soon: to write about a new hiking trail that runs the length of Jordan for the Telegraph. It will be fantastic to hike once more in that amazing country, some 10 years after I first led walking trips there, and good to meet again some of the kindest people I’ve ever come across in my travels (including, I hope, some old friends…).
For the past few years I’ve been the Telegraph’s ‘Destination Expert’ for my home city of Oxford. When I first wrote the guide in late 2011 I explored the city I’d been living in for the previous 25 years with new eyes, trying to see it as a tourist might. I fell in love with it all over again. Now, every year, I am asked to update that guide, and although the work isn’t the most interesting I do, I’m still proud to represent the great city of Oxford on behalf of the Telegraph. Here’s my latest version.
For the past few years, my travel journalism has taken a bit of a back seat. Events in the Middle East (my specialist region) have hugely curtailed tourism there and newspapers, quite understandably, don’t want to publish travel stories about the region. So, in 2012, I decided to take the opportunity presented by this hiatus to study for a PhD in Creative Writing, which I successfully completed in December 2016. If nothing else, this means I get to wear a fetching red robe and a floppy, Tudor-style hat at my graduation in July.
My plans for 2017 include turning my PhD thesis into a travel book, whilst continuing with my creative writing teaching (at Cambridge and Bath Spa Universities). And, geopolitical events allowing, resuming my travel journalism once again.
As they say, watch this space…
I am currently teaching on one of the most interesting MA programmes in the country: Bath Spa University’s MA in Travel & Nature Writing, which is now accepting applications for the next academic year. You can study both full-time (1 year) or part-time (2 years).
The MA is designed for writers seeking advanced skills in the growing field of creative non-fiction inspired by the natural world and contemporary travelling. The course focuses on writing from experience – about places, people and wildlife – to match the needs and opportunities offered by the travel and nature writing sectors. The aim is to help develop professional practice along with practical writing and editing skills, and to produce a diverse portfolio of work to help establish a career in this competitive but
exciting field.
You can find out more about the MA here, or please feel free to contact me directly.
