Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards

T h e b e s T T r av e l wr iT in g in T h e wor l d

edwardstanfordawards.com @esTravelawards

edward stanford award for outstanding Contribution to Travel writing we were delighted to award Michael Palin with the edward stanford award for outstanding Contribution to Travel writing.

This award recognises the great contribution Michael has given to the travel writing genre over many years.

It all started nearly 30 years ago when the actor, writer and, most famously, Python, embarked on his first adventure. Around the World in 80 Days, inspired by Jules Verne’s classic novel, saw him recreate Phileas Fogg’s legendary journey, circumnavigating the globe without the use of aircraft, but accompanied by a BBC television crew. The documentary was acclaimed and Palin’s book a bestseller.

He had been transformed from, in his own words, a very silly person to a very silly explorer.

What followed were more journeys across the globe, beautifully captured on film, recreated in pictures and retold in the written word. He has written a further seven bestselling books to accompany the travel series, Pole to Pole, Full Circle, Hemingway Adventure, Sahara, Himalaya, New Europe and Brazil.

Born in Sheffield in 1942, Palin went on to attend Oxford University and started penning comedy material and plays. But 1969 was the turning point, for more than one reason. It was the year he joined up with Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Terry Jones for the first series of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, broadcast on BBC Television. But, perhaps, more importantly, it was the year he started keeping a diary.

It stood him in perfect stead for travel writing.

When journeying across the world he always used longhand to jot the day’s events in his notebook. Looking back brought the experiences back to life, with grains of desert sand stuck between the pages and the smear of a crushed insect still visible. His ability to bring those sights, scents, sounds and encounters to life for readers will surely earn him a place among the pantheon of travel writing greats.

in 1853 edward stanford established his map-making business in the heart of london and at the height of the british empire. his maps fuelled a passion for adventure, exploration and foreign travel, which in turn led to an explosion in travel writing. over 160 years later, the edward stanford Travel writing awards exist to celebrate this most exciting of genres and encourage more travellers to put down their selfie-sticks and pick up their notebooks. within the pages of this brochure you will find a wonderful selection of books that have been shortlisted and those that have gone on to win the awards, which were presented on 2nd February 2017. The awards include fiction, adventure travel, food and travel, children’s, illustrated and innovation in travel publishing. we hope you are able to enjoy as many of the selected books featured as you can – look out for the edward stanford Travel writing awards logo in bookshops, libraries and online.

welcome

as the world grows smaller and in many cases more dangerous, travel writing in all its forms keeps us in touch with our global family. These disparate shortlists have one unifying feature – they are all marvellous examples of what travel writing and publishing does best, which is to show us, the reader, a world far from our own doorsteps, made reachable by these glorious, powerful and unforgettable books.

Tony Maher, Managing Director, Edward Stanford Limited

edwardstanfordawards.com @esTravelawards #esTwa

sTanFord dolMan Travel in association with

Founded by the Reverend Dr Bill Dolman in association with the Authors’ Club in 2006 as the Dolman Travel Book of the Year. Stanfords joined forces in 2015 and the award became known as the Stanford Dolman. This award celebrates excellence in literary travel writing.

shorTlisT deeP souTh Paul Theroux

acclaimed travel writer Paul Theroux turns his attention to his own country – america – for the first time.

Travelling through north and south Carolina, georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, alabama and arkansas, Paul Theroux writes of the stunning landscapes he discovers – the deserts, the mountains, the Mississippi – and above all, the lives of the people he meets. deep in the heart of his native country, Theroux discovers a land more profoundly foreign than anything he has previously experienced.

edwardstanfordawards.com

squirrel Pie Elisabeth Luard

elisabeth luard has travelled extensively throughout her life, meeting fascinating people, observing different cultures and uncovering extraordinary ingredients in unusual places. in this enchanting food memoir, she shares tales and dishes gathered from her global ramblings. divided into four landscapes – rivers, islands, deserts and forests – elisabeth's stories are coupled with more than fifty authentic recipes, each one a reflection of its unique place of origin. illustrated with elisabeth's own sketches, Squirrel Pie will appeal to anyone with a taste for travel, and an affinity for that most universal of languages, food. sTaTion To sTaTion James Attlee

The line from london to bristol connects two great cities, but what lies in between? To his surprise, James attlee – a regular traveller on the route – finds it rich in unexpected encounters and the line awash with ghosts. but this is not another nostalgic book about ‘heritage’ england. as britain embarks on the greatest period of rail construction since the nineteenth century, trains are once more seen as the future, not the past. Part voyage of exploration, part history, part meditation on the nature of travel, Station to Station takes the reader on a journey into the psyche of a nation, along one of its most iconic lines.

The hills oF wales Jim Perrin

The hills of wales have haunted Jim Perrin for six decades. and they continue to do so still, inexhaustibly, always offering new perspectives, moods and experiences. This book records forays into both famed and forgotten upland taking in Cader idris and the Carneddau, Corndon hill and the berwyn, Pumlumon Fawr and the little hills of llŷn, and so many others.

They are accounts of personal explorations, journeyings and encounters, each fragment and footstep combining to form a peripatetic literary celebration.

whiTe sands Geoff Dyer

White Sands is a creative exploration of why we travel.

From a trip to the lightning Field in new Mexico, to chasing gauguin's ghost in French Polynesia, from falling for someone who may or may not be a tour guide in beijing's Forbidden City, to tracking down the house of an intellectual hero in los angeles, dyer pursues all permutations of the peak experience including the trough experience. in his trademark style he blends travel writing, essay, criticism and fiction with a smart and cantankerous wit that is unmatched.

This is a book for armchair travellers and procrastinating philosophers everywhere.

book of the Year winner

inTersTaTe: hiTChhiking Through The sTaTe oF a naTion Julian Sayarer

recruited to work on a documentary project, Julian goes to new York convinced he has hit the big time. Finding the project cancelled, Julian decides to set out hitchhiking for san Francisco and finds an unseen nation in rough shape. along the road are homeless people and anarchists who have dropped out of society altogether, and blue-collar americans who seem to have lost all meaning in forgotten towns.

Interstate grapples with the fault lines in us society. it tells a tale of steinbeck and kerouac, set against the indifference of the vast us landscape and the frustrated energy of american culture and politics.

advenTure Travel book of the award sponsored by

Presented to the author of a book of accessible non-fiction telling of either an individual's personal adventure or recounting an historical life or expedition.

aFriCa solo Mark Beaumont

seven years after smashing the record for cycling round the world and inspiring a generation of like-minded adventurers, Mark beaumont set out on another epic journey that would fulfil a dream – to cycle the length of africa, as fast as humanly possible. but to make it from Cairo to Cape Town in one piece, a distance of more than 10,000 kilometres, unsupported, would prove the toughest solo challenge of his life.

shorTlisT dare To do Sarah Outen

in november 2015, sarah outen completed her five-year 25,000 mile journey looping the planet by cycling across europe, asia, and north america, and canoeing and kayaking across the north Pacific and most of the north atlantic. This is the story of her adventure and inner journey, and also a call to action, to redefine your own boundaries, to be courageous, and to dare to do.

edwardstanfordawards.com

CYCling The earTh Sean Conway

sean Conway was stuck in a life dead end of his own making when he heard about a round the world cycling race. he was immediately inspired – but he’d hardly been on a bike in years. six months later sean was in greenwich Park on the start line of the adventure of a lifetime. soon he was way ahead of schedule and on course to break the round the world cycling record. but then disaster struck, and sean was forced to confront the possibility that he may not be able to complete the race.

This is a book about an amazing and incredibly difficult journey, but it’s also a book about never giving up.

Crossing The Congo Mike Martin, Chloe Baker & Charlie HatchBarnwell

in 2013, three friends set off on a journey that they had been told was impossible: the north-south crossing of the Congo river basin, from kinshasa to Juba.

Traversing 2,500 miles of the toughest terrain on the planet in a twenty-five year-old land rover, they faced repeated challenges, from kleptocracy and fire ants, to non-existent roads and intense suspicion from local people.

Crossing the Congo is an offbeat travelogue, and a stunning photo-book. it is the story of a great journey, and an intimate look into one of the world’s most fragile states, told with humour and sensitivity.

CliMbing daYs Dan Richards

in Climbing Days, dan richards is on the trail of his great-great-aunt, dorothy Pilley, a prominent and pioneering mountaineer of the early twentieth century. For years, dorothy and her husband, i. a. richards, remained mysterious to dan, but the chance discovery of her 1935 memoir, Climbing Days, leads him on a journey. Perhaps, in the mountains, he can meet them halfway?

Year winner

walking The hiMalaYas Levison Wood

Following in the footsteps of the great explorers, Walking The Himalayas is levison wood's enthralling account of his 1,700-mile trek across the roof of the world. levison encountered natural disasters, extremists, nomadic goat herders and shamans in his journey of discovery along the path of the ancient trade route of the silk road to the forgotten kingdom of bhutan.

FiCTion (with a sense of place) award sponsored by

A novel or novella with a highly developed and integral sense of place.

Vividly portrayed backdrops around the world and across the centuries.

shorTlisT The noise oF TiMe Julian Barnes

a compact masterpiece dedicated to the russian composer dmitri shostakovich. barnes elegantly guides us through the trajectory of shostakovich’s career, at the same time illuminating the tumultuous evolution of the soviet union. The result is both a stunning portrait of a relentlessly fascinating man and a brilliant exploration of the meaning of art and its place in society.

edwardstanfordawards.com

The high MounTains oF PorTugal Yann Martel

lost in Portugal. lost to grief. with nothing but a chimpanzee. a man thrown backwards by heartbreak goes in search of an artefact that could unsettle history. a woman carries her husband to a doctor in a suitcase. a Canadian senator begins a new life, in a new country, in the company of a chimp called odo. From these stories of journeying, of loss and faith, Yann Martel makes a novel unlike any other: moving, profound and magical.

The TobaCConisT Robert Seethaler, translated by Charlotte Collins

when Franz exchanges his home in the idyllic beauty of the austrian lake district for the bustle of vienna, his homesickness quickly dissolves amidst the thrum of the city. in his role as apprentice to tobacconist otto Trsnyek, he will soon be supplying the great and good of vienna with their newspapers and cigarettes. it is 1937. in a matter of months germany will annex austria and the storm that has been threatening to engulf the little tobacconist will descend. The Tobacconist tells a deeply moving story of ordinary lives profoundly affected by the Third reich.

The Muse Jessie Burton

odelle bastien climbs the steps of the skelton gallery in london, knowing that her life is about to change. she has been offered a job as a typist under the tutelage of Marjorie quick. but though quick takes odelle into her confidence, she remains a mystery – no more so than when a lost masterpiece with a secret history is delivered to the gallery. The truth about the painting lies in 1936 and a house in rural spain, where olive schloss is harbouring ambitions of her own. into this fragile paradise come artist isaac robles and his half-sister Teresa, who immediately insinuate themselves into the schloss family, with explosive and devastating consequences...

To The brighT edge oF The world Eowyn Ivey

a story of discovery, adventure and a husband and wife tested by the different paths their society expects them to tread. lieutenant Colonel allen Forrester receives the commission of a lifetime when he is charged to navigate alaska's wolverine river. Forrester leaves behind his wife, sophie, newly pregnant with their child. sophie does not relish the prospect of a year in a military barracks while her husband carves a path through the wilderness. what she does not anticipate is that their year apart will demand every ounce of courage and fortitude of her that it does of her husband.

winner

do noT saY we have noThing Madeleine Thien

written with exquisite intimacy, wit and moral complexity, Do Not Say We Have Nothing magnificently brings to life one of the most significant political regimes of the 20th century and its traumatic legacy, which still resonates for a new generation. it is a gripping evocation of the persuasive power of revolution and its effects on personal and national identity, and an unforgettable meditation on China today.

Children’s Travel book of the award sponsored by

A fiction or non-fiction title for pre-teens, which inspires a love of travel, exploration and adventure.

a Year Full oF sTories Angela McAllister & Christopher Corr

Celebrate from new Year’s day to Christmas eve with this treasury of 52 best-loved stories from around the world and every continent. This rich resource collects folk tales from home, and legends and myths from distant lands, to commemorate the changing seasons, cultural events and international festivals throughout the year.

hello world Jonathan Litton & L'Atelier Cartographik

learn to greet people around the globe in this interactive atlas of hellos. with over 150 languages, flaps to reveal pronunciation and fact-files explaining how to write ‘hi’ in hieroglyphs and how to sign ‘hao’ in native american hand talk. Hello World opens up a world of exploration and greetings at your fingertips.

shorTlisT a river Marc Martin

“There is a river outside my window.

Where will it take me?” and so begins an imaginary journey from the city to the sea. From factories to farmlands, freeways to forest, each new landscape is explored through stunning illustrations and poetic text from this award-winning picture book creator.

The story follows an environmental theme similar to the one Marc Martin explored in A Forest.

edwardstanfordawards.com

aTlas oF oddiTies Clive Gifford & Tracy Worrall

a celebration of the unusual events, objects and people that make our world such a fascinating place. living on the planet are more than 7 billion people, all with their own interests, traditions and ways of life. and the extraordinary scenery – from the icy poles to scorching hot deserts, lush tropical rainforests, giant rocky caves and canyons, remarkable rivers, lakes and seas. This unbelievable round-the-world adventure will take you through all of the planet’s continents and countries, and on the way you’ll get to see just how diverse the world can be.

a walk on The wild side Louis Thomas

This action-packed voyage across the world’s most incredible habitats puts you face-to-face with a colourful cast of 65 animal friends, captured in fine detail by louis Thomas. with simple, funny and informative captions you can discover why meerkats hunt in packs, how elephants communicate and what gorillas eat for lunch.

Year winner

aTlas oF aniMal advenTures Lucy Letherland, Rachel Williams & Emily Hawkins

head off on a journey of discovery with this follow-up to the bestselling Atlas of Adventures! This book collects together nature’s most unmissable events from between the two poles, including epic migrations, extraordinary behaviours, and herculean habits. Find hundreds of things to spot and learn new facts about every animal.

Food & Travel book of the award sponsored by

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Cookbook or non-fiction food writing focussed on a particular national cuisine or telling of food related exploration/travel.

These books all capture a sense of the place's identity and culture.

PersePolis Sally Butcher

inspired by the food sally serves up daily in her café, Persepolis brings you the most outstanding (and fun) ways of cooking without meat or fish. with delicious recipes like aubergine Porridge with burnt butter, sweet Potato, Pomegranate and Chicory Tagine and veggiestani gumbo, the appetite for new ways to brighten your broccoli, add sparkle to your spinach and titillate your tomatillos has never been greater.

riCk sTein's long weekends Rick Stein

To accompany the major bbC Two series, Rick Stein’s Long Weekends is a mouthwatering collection of over 100 recipes from ten european cities. rick’s recipes are designed to cater for all your weekend meals. accompanied by beautiful photography of the food and locations, and complemented by his personal memories and travel tips for each city, rick will inspire you to re-create the magic of a long weekend in your own home.

shorTlisT eivissa: The ibiza Cookbook Anne Sijmonsbergen

ibiza is on the cusp of a food revolution. The island’s traditional farming and fishing culture has been supplemented with a wave of chefs and producers making artisan products and vibrant food. now Eivissa, the first recipe book to showcase the incredible ibicenco dishes ibiza cuisine has to offer, reveals how to recreate the tastes of the white island in your own home. divided into seasonal chapters to reflect the ingredients in ibiza, these are gorgeous recipes reflecting the heritage of the cuisine, yet with contemporary twists.

edwardstanfordawards.com

The saFFron Tales Yasmin Khan

british-iranian cook Yasmin khan traversed iran in search of the most delicious recipes, from the paddyfields of gilan to the pomegranate orchards of isfahan and shiraz. here are her stories from home kitchens and fragrant recipes that are rooted in the rich tradition of Persian cooking. all fully accessible for the home cook, Yasmin’s recipes include the inimitable fesenjoon (chicken with walnuts and pomegranates), tahcheen (baked saffron and aubergine rice) and rose and almond cake. with photography from all corners of iran and gorgeous recipe images, The Saffron Tales rejoices in the flavours and food of this unique and beautiful country.

suMMers under The TaMarind Tree Sumayya Usmani

a contemporary Pakistani cookbook celebrating the varied, exciting and often-overlooked cuisine of a beautiful country. lawyer-turned-food writer and cookery teacher sumayya usmani captures the rich and aromatic pleasure of Pakistani cooking through more than 100 recipes. she also celebrates the heritage and traditions of her home country and looks back on a happy childhood spent in the kitchen with her grandmother and mother.

Year winner

ProvenCe To PondiCherrY Tessa Kiros

Tessa kiros, renowned for her exquisite food and travel books, takes us on a fascinating journey across the globe to explore French culinary influences in far-flung destinations. her journey begins in Provence where Tessa first fell in love with French food. in each destination, Tessa delves into the history and culinary traditions of the country (or region), discovering how French cuisine has become embroiled with local ingredients and traditions.

The result is an intriguing collection of recipes that will appeal to all those with a broad interest in food and culture.

illusTraTed Travel book of the award sponsored by

Beautiful books of photography, illustrations, maps or infographics relating to travel, adventure or world cultures.

shorTlisT exPlorers' skeTChbooks Huw LewisJones & Kari Herbert

despite dramatic advances in technology and equipment over the centuries, there is one vital piece of kit in most explorers’ pockets that hasn’t changed much at all – the journal. The sketchbooks and journals presented here allow us the opportunity to share, through their own eyes and thoughts, the on-the-spot reactions of around 70 intrepid individuals as they journeyed into frozen wastes, high mountains, barren deserts and rich rainforests.

edwardstanfordawards.com

an aTlas oF CounTries ThaT don'T exisT Nick Middleton

nick Middleton takes us on a magical tour of countries that, lacking diplomatic recognition or un membership, inhabit a world of shifting borders, visionary leaders and forgotten peoples. Most of us think we know what a country is, but in truth the concept is rather slippery. From Catalonia to the Crimea, and from africa's last colony to the european republic that enjoyed just a solitary day of independence, the places in this book may lie on the margins of legitimacy, but all can be visited in the real world. An Atlas of Countries That Don't Exist brings to life a dreamlike world of nations that exist only in the minds of the people who live there.

The Travel book Lonely Planet

Take a journey through every country in the world. 850 images. 230 countries. one complete picture.with details of every united nations-approved country in the world, and a few more principalities and dependencies besides, lonely Planet’s Travel Book is the ultimate introduction to a world of travel and the essential travel reference book for every household.

briTain’s Tudor MaPs: CounTY bY CounTY John Speed

a new edition of the earliest atlas of the british isles. Britain’s Tudor Maps: County by County reproduces the maps of John speed’s 1611 collection The Theatre of Great Britaine in large, easy-to-read format for the first time.

Compiled from 1596, these detailed maps show each county of great britain individually and as they existed at the time, complete with a wealth of heraldic decoration, illustrations and royal portraits. each map is presented alongside a commentary by alasdair hawkyard, elaborating on both the topographical features and the social conditions of each county at the time, enabling an examination of how the physical and social landscape has been transformed over time.

This land Roly Smith & Joe Cornish

Joe Cornish is widely acknowledged as britain’s finest landscape photographer. in this new collection he explores fifty of the most amazing landscapes in britain. Taking its cue from these isles' extraordinarily diverse geology, This Land ranges from the ancient quartzite rocks of the scottish highlands to the gritstones and limestones of the english Pennines and the rolling chalk downs of southern england. accompanying text by leading outdoors writer roly smith explains how each type of rock creates its own distinctive landforms and vegetation, and how these have often been made the subject of local folklore and legend.

Year winner

The un-disCovered islands Malachy Tallack & Katie Scott

gathered in the book are two dozen islands, once believed to be real. These are the products of imagination, deception and simple human error. From atlantis to more obscure tales from around the globe; from ancient history right up to the present day, this is an atlas of legend and wonder, of places discovered and then un-discovered.

innovaTion in Travel Publishing award sponsored by

These titles and series are original and unique from the outside in – engaging readers with travel and the world.

aTlas obsCura Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras & Ella Morton

Atlas Obscura revels in the weird, the unexpected, the overlooked, the hidden and the mysterious. every page expands our sense of how strange and marvellous the world really is. and with its compelling descriptions, hundreds of photographs, surprising charts, it is as appealing to the armchair traveller as the die-hard adventurer.

shorTlisT blue Crow Media MaPs series Derek Lamberton

blue Crow Media, founded by derek lamberton, series publishes a series of folding twentieth century architecture guide maps. each map, ranging from Brutalist and Art Deco London to avant-garde Moscow, is designed to reveal and celebrate the title’s style and era; and is printed by one of the uk’s leading sustainable family-run printers.

edwardstanfordawards.com

CurioCiTY Henry Eliot & Matt Lloyd-Rose

Curiocity is the most beautiful and unusual guidebook ever written about london. The authors reimagine the city in twenty-six distinct ways, one for each letter of the alphabet, considering how london might look from a child's perspective or mapping the airspace above the city. at the heart of each chapter is a hand-drawn map from artists including Chris riddell and steven appleby, supplemented by countless london voices from Monica ali to Philip Pullman to shami Chakrabarti. with highly-unusual itineraries, the authors explore london, visiting nuclear bunkers, talking aTMs and Japanese Monkey Fish along the way.

lonelY PlaneT besT oF series

since 1973 lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel media company with guidebooks to every destination, series an awardwinning website, mobile and digital travel products and a dedicated traveller community. lonely Planet covers must-see spots but also enables curious travellers to get off beaten paths to understand more of the culture of the places in which they find themselves. Lonely Planet's Best of series is your guide to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip and what hidden discoveries await you.

CiTix60: 60 loCal CreaTives – besT oF The CiTY series

CITIx60 explores the real attractions of creative capitals series with expert advice from 60 stars of each city's creative scene – local artists, designers, chefs, architects, musicians, photographers and filmmakers. This is an insiders' view of what makes a trip to his or her town memorable. with up to date recommendations on the hottest accommodation, eateries and shops that give the city a distinctive flair, a handy section on travel tips gives basic information on getting around as well as unusual tours to consider, and recurring festivals to better plan your trip.

winner

where The aniMals go James Cheshire & Oliver Uberti

For thousands of years, tracking animals meant following footprints. now satellites, drones, camera traps, cellphone networks, apps and accelerometers allow us to see the natural world like never before. geographer James Cheshire and designer oliver uberti take you to the forefront of this animal-tracking revolution. Meet the scientists gathering wild data - from seals mapping the sea to baboons making decisions, from birds dodging tornadoes to jaguars taking selfies. Join the journeys of sharks, elephants, bumblebees, snowy owls, and a wolf looking for love. Find an armchair, cancel your plans and go where the animals go.

Travel blog of the Year

lonely Planet lives and breathes travel. it created Pathfinders to evolve its community into an ever-expanding network of travel experts. if you are a talented travel blogger, photographer, videographer or social media wizard there’s a place for you with lonely Planet Pathfinders. www.lonelyplanet.com/pathfinders

Blogs and social media play an increasing role in the travel planning process. Real stories from real people – people with a passion for exploring the world – are an endless source of inspiration for travellers.

Lonely Planet Pathfinders teamed up with the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards to find the Travel Blog of the Year – a creative, engaging and regularly updated, original blog.

honourable MenTions

elliott gresswell, irreverentprogress.com

Fantastic writer. Draws the reader in with ease – a rare talent in the blogging world.

The winner

Julianna barnaby, thediscoveriesof.com lauren williams, theenjoyablerut.com

Beautifully designed and packed with inspiring tidbits, Lauren's blog is the perfect balance of travelogue and travel guide. She writes about far-flung trips and UK adventures – all with abounding enthusiasm – and pairs her words with lovely images. Like reading postcards from a travel-mad best friend.

Writes with authority and experience.

Lovely photography.

bradt Travel guides new Travel writer of the Year Founded in 1974, bradt Travel guides is now the largest independent guidebook publisher in the uk, with over 200 titles in print, over half of which have no direct competition from other guidebook lists. www.bradtguides.com Bradt Travel Guides has long been committed to the promotion of travel-writing talent – it has held a travel-writing competition annually for over two decades. This year it partnered with the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards to search for the New Travel Writer of the Year – to showcase some of the exceptional new travel writers out there.

Open only to unpublished writers, the competition asked entrants to write a 600-800 word piece relating to the theme a brief encounter. The winning prize includes a holiday for two to Uganda provided by Travel Local, a commission to write about the trip for the Bradt Travel Guides website, and a place on the Bradt Travel Writing Seminar (run in conjunction with Travellers’ Tales, the UK’s leading training agency for aspiring travel writers).

Read all three finalists’ stories at: www.bradtguides.com/travelwriting2016

The winner

dom Tulett

Dom Tulett lives with his family in Harpenden. On his daily commute to London he writes stories for his daughter about the places to which he's travelled. One of these stories, My Daughter’s Laugh, has been selected for inclusion in Roam Alone: Inspiring Tales by Reluctant Solo Travellers, a travel anthology to be published by Bradt Travel Guides in April 2017. Alongside

these, he is working on a novel set during the final months of the civil war in Sri Lanka.

The runners-uP

sophy downes

Sophy Downes is a classical archaeologist who works on ancient Greek and Persian architecture. She has held fellowships in Tehran, Athens, and Berlin, has taught at University College London, Edinburgh, and the American University in Rome, and has degrees from Oxford (MA), Cambridge (MPhil), and UCL (PhD). She lives in Rome, where she drinks caffè corretto and admires Borromini churches by day and is writing a book, The Aesthetics of Empire in Athens and Persia, by night.

suchita shah

Suchita is a GP who lives in Oxford. Her work in public health and medical education has taken her to a number of countries, from where she has blogged about a range of health and development issues; however, she also enjoys travelling for leisure, and this is her very first foray into travel writing. Suchita is an avid reader and award-winning photographer who takes inspiration from her East African and Indian roots. She loves to write, and hopes to expand her portfolio to include more creative non-fiction and short stories. with special thanks to:

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