Travel Writing World

Wilfred Thesiger was an explorer and writer who sought to travel through the Rub’ al Khali, the so-called “Empty Quarter” of desert in the Arabian Peninsula in the late 1940s. Thesiger wrote about his journey in his now-classic travel book Arabian Sands, which was originally published in 1959 brought him distinction as an explorer and writer. Thesiger passed in 2003. 

Joining me today to talk about Arabian Sands is the author and scholar Tim Hannigan. We discuss Thesiger’s book in light of his life and his complications as a travel writer with privileged, colonial roots. Archives now keep his photographs, but many are freely visible online (including photos of his companions like bin Kabina). He published some of his photographs in his books, including his wonderful photography book A Vanished World. 

This episode was prepared alongside a review of Arabian Sands.

This episode is also the first in a new series in which I speak with authors and journalists about their favorite travel books or travel books they've been meaning to read.

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Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Have you ever had a profound, mystical encounter with the natural world? Speaking with us from the U.K. is Jini Reddy, whose new book Wanderland: A Search for Magic in the Landscape (Bloomsbury 2020) explores and celebrates her connection with the magic of the British landscape. We also talk about cultural identity, the ways in which we can connect with nature, and the difficulties in discussing transcendent experiences.

Jini is a British journalist and author whom National Geographic recently profiled in their Women of Impact series. Wanderland was longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for U.K. Nature Writing, 2020.

If you're still curious about Wanderland, please read the questions Jini answered about her book.

You can reach out to Jini Reddy on her homepage, Twitter, and Instagram.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Stories of migration, nationhood, religious conflict, sex, and violence have preoccupied Europe for millennia. Nicholas Jubber joins us from Dorset, U.K. to talk about the power of storytelling in the European epic tradition, the subject of his most recent book Epic Continent: Adventures in the Great Stories of Europe (John Murray 2019) in which he travels throughout Europe following some of history’s most epic stories like The Odyssey and Beowulf.

Epic Continent was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2020. His previous books are also well regarded. The Timbuktu School for Nomads was featured in the New York Times Best Travel Book of the Year in 2016 and The Prester Quest won the Edward Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award in 2006.

You can reach out to Nicholas Jubber on his homepage, on Twitter, and on Instagram.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

In today's episode, we remember Bruce Chatwin on what would have been his 80th birthday. Jonathan Chatwin joins us again, this time to talk about the life and work of Bruce Chatwin. Jonathan wrote a book on Bruce's work called Anywhere Out of the World: The Work of Bruce Chatwin (Manchester UP 2017).

We also have reflections and testimonials from Nicholas Shakespeare, who wrote the biography Bruce Chatwin: A Biography (The Harvill Press 1999), Susannah Clapp, who worked with Bruce as his reader and editor at Jonathan Cape and wrote the biographic memoir With Chatwin: Portrait of a Writer (Jonathan Cape 1997), Colin Thubron, Bruce's friend and the celebrated travel writer of many books like Shadow of the Silk Road (Harper 2007), Sara Wheeler, author of many wonderful travel books like Magnetic North (Jonathan Cape 2009), and Michael Meyer, the award-winning American travel writer and author of The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed (Walker & Company 2009).

Join us in celebrating and remembering Bruce Chatwin. And, if you have any memories or thoughts about the life and work of Bruce Chatwin, please leave them in the comments section below.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Today’s episode brings us to Mumbai, where Rajat Ubhaykar speaks with us about his travels hitchhiking through India with truckers. His adventures were published in his new book, Truck de India!: A Hitchhiker's Guide to Hindustan (Simon & Schuster 2019). Part travelogue, part immersive journalism, Truck de India! is a fascinating glimpse into an industry and an experience that is largely off-limits to westerners. We also speak briefly about the cultural and linguistic diversity of India and travel writing about the country.

You can read more about Rajat's book and adventure in a series of questions he answered here.

You can get reach out to Rajat Ubhaykar on Twitter.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Today’s episode brings us to Edinburgh, where Iain Campbell speaks with us about his travels through Pakistan, the holy mountains of Asia, and sketching instead of taking photographs while traveling. We also talk about his new book, From The Lion’s Mouth: A Journey Along the Indus, which was shortlisted for the Stanford Travel Writing Award’s Steppes Travel Adventure Book of the Year. Iain explored Asia's holy mountains in his first book, With Unblest Feet.

You can get reach out to Iain on Twitter.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

The novel coronavirus has brought the travel industry to its knees, its crash bringing the world of travel media along with it; and it would, as travel media is mostly an appendage of the travel industry itself. Case in point, the near-global paralysis of the travel industry has already resulted in the folding of some in-flight publications and the drying up of travel assignments and freelance opportunities. Travel writers across the globe are in a state of anxious uncertainty about how they will make ends meet, not just today when the need is the most urgent, but tomorrow when the dust settles. Travel bloggers, who generate income through traffic, ad revenue, and affiliate marketing, are also scrambling to protect themselves from the fallout.

Yet, with at least a third of the world on coronavirus lockdown, bookstores are reporting a surge in online sales. And my inbox is alerting me daily to new articles and blog posts recommending "the best travel books" for the vicarious or armchair traveler. Even Travel Writing World couldn't resist the urge. Surely travel book authors are seeing spikes in their sales, but with the global economy each day coming closer and closer to a standstill, one can't help but wonder how long it will last.

What will the post-coronavirus world look like for the travel industry and for travel writing, broadly speaking, when we unlatch our bunker doors and survey the landscape?

This was the question I asked a variety of writers in the travel writing space including well-published journalists like Jason Wilson and Amar Grover, renowned travel bloggers like Tim Leffel and Nomadic Matt, and travel book authors like Tim Hannigan, Jonathan Chatwin, Rolf Potts, Monisha Rajesh, and Paul Theroux.

Listen to the episode to hear what they have to say in this round-up episode of Travel Writing World—an unusual format for unusual times.

Paul Theroux was the only guest to submit a response via email, which I read at the very end of the episode and post below.

Paul Theroux

Paul Theroux, the well-known author of the recently-published On the Plain of Snakes, responded to my questions via email from Hawaii.

Travel Writing World: Commercial travel writing is in large dependent upon the travel industry. But with travel literature, if we could make such a distinction, the relationship is less direct. Do you have any insights into how commercial travel writing and travel literature might change as a result of the corona-crisis, if at all?

Paul Theroux: The "commercial travel writing" you mention is market-driven - intending to sell vacations, hotel rooms, restaurant meals, and it is nearly always up-beat. I don't disparage it, because it informs vacationers who have limited time to travel and services the travel industry. But "travel literature" - or let's say, "the literature of wandering" is quite different, low budget, somewhat open-ended, random and glorying in having a bad time full of life lessons. Your question is whether either of the two will change, and the simple answer is no - probably no change at all, because "travel writing" as a designation is maddening, and encompasses autobiography, mythomania, memoir, and topographical observation as well as adventures, exotic romances and ordeals. Of all of these I prefer to read about The Ordeal. By the way, Hawaii usually gets ten million visitors a year - and yesterday 120 visitors arrived. I have never seen Hawaii so empty.

TWW: What would you tell the aspiring travel writer whose plans are suddenly, if temporarily, grounded?

PT: Aspiring travel writers - aspiring writers of all kinds - need to be passionate readers - not of the new trend-spotting stuff but of the great novels and travel books. Ideally, this aspiring writer reads a biography of (say) Joseph Conrad or Jack London or Rebecca West - all three of whom were travelers - and then reads eight or ten books by Conrad or London or West. It so happens I have done this,

Today’s episode brings us to Bath, where Dan Richards speaks with us about isolation, mass tourism, and creativity. We also talk about his new book Outpost: A Journey to the Wild Ends of the Earth. We also talk about Jack Kerouac's On the Road and Dharma Bums, the Kerouac House in Orlando, Florida, and David Foster Wallace's Consider the Lobster.

Dan Richards is the co-author of Holloway (with Robert Macfarlane) and the author of The Beechwood Airship Interviews and Climbing Days. He has written for the Guardian, Harper's Bazaar, Caught by the River, Monocle, and the Quietus. He is an RLF Fellow at Bristol University.

Outpost was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards.

You can get in touch with Dan on Twitter and Instagram.

Outpost photos courtesy of Dan Richards

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Today’s episode brings us to London, where Peter Fiennes speaks with us about getting to know one’s own country, climate concerns and travel, and Brexit. We also talk about his new book “Footnotes: A Journey Round Britain in the Company of Great Writers.” 

Peter was the publisher at Time Out for many years, where he produced hundreds of books and magazines. His new book Footnotes was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards. You can contact Peter or learn more about him on Twitter or his website.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.

Today's episode brings us to Oxford, U.K., where Anna Sherman speaks with us about trespassing into foreign cultures, finding a voice in a new language, and thinking about time in Japan. We also talk about her debut book, The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City.

In the interview, Anna and I bring up The Book of Tea, The Daibo Coffee Manual, Daibo Dreamed of Coffee, and Pico Iyer, whom I recently interviewed for this podcast. You can read the excerpt of The Bells of Old Tokyo that deals with love hotels and language on LitHub. You can also read the text-based interview with Anna Sherman on our website.

Connect with Anna Sherman

Connect with Anna Sherman on her homepage or on Twitter.

More Episodes & Support

Please consider supporting the show with a few dollars a month, less than a cup of coffee, to help keep our show alive and advertisement-free.

You can also support the show by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or in your favorite podcasting app, subscribing to the show, and following us on Twitter & Instagram.

Lastly, consider using our affiliate links to purchase your books. If you use our links to make a purchase, we will receive a few cents commission at no additional cost to you. These funds help keep the podcast alive and ad-free.

Finally, join the Travel Writing World newsletter to receive your free copy of The Travel Book Guidebook. You will also receive quarterly dispatches & reports with podcast interviews, travel writing resources, & book recommendations. Thanks for your support!

Listen to the Episode on YouTube

Listen to the episode on YouTube on the Travel Writing World channel. Remember to subscribe to the channel.

Intro Music

Peach by Daantai (Daantai’s Instagram)

Disclaimer

*Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, this website will earn a very small commission if a purchase is made using these links. Also, "as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases" using the Amazon links on this site.