Friends, February was a busy month. I read through the 2022 Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year list (I’m honored to be on the judging panel this year). And I’ve also been preparing for a live event at Stanfords in Covent Garden on March 2 with Colin Thubron, Monisha Rajesh, and Tharik Hussain. If you’re in London, stop by and say hello.
I have also been doing research on the Black Hills, the Lakota Sioux Native Americans, and Mount Rushmore. It is fascinating to read about the Lakota, but it is also dispiriting to read about how they’ve been treated by the United States government over the years. Though, my interest in mountains — and the way people think about mountains — is driving this research. Do you know anything about Native Americans’ relationship with mountains? If so, please get in touch.
I’d be remiss not to mention Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One can only hope that peace returns and the crisis doesn’t escalate. In the meantime, consider supporting humanitarian organizations and take a stand against disinformation online.
Now, onto what you came for:
Last month we published
※ Announcing a Live Event at Stanfords London on March 2 on Travel Writing World
※ A few “postcards” from France, Morocco, and Spain (Postcards Newsletter) on my website
※ A podcast with Nori Jemil about her book The Travel Photographer’s Way on Travel Writing World
※ A podcast with David Seminara about his book Mad Travelers on Travel Writing World
※ An author profile of David Eimer on Travel Writing World
※ An list of the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards nominees on Travel Writing World
The roundup
🏆 The 2022 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards shortlist has been announced!
🗺 Stanford’s book of the month is The Quest for Adventure by Benedict Allen. They also have a few of in-person author talks scheduled for this month.
🐪 Ryan Murdock speaks with Carole Angier about W. G. Sebald on the Personal Landscapes Podcast.
↪️ Rolf Potts speaks with Meghan Daum about Gen X on his podcast Deviate.
👂 Jo Frances Penn speaks with Sean Comerford about traveling carnivals on her Books and Travel Podcast.
🧭 Tim Leffel interviews Meagan Drillinger on Travel Writing 2.0.
📚 Michel Kerr reports on Deskbound Traveller that Tété-Michel Kpomassie’s Michel the Giant: An African in Greenland is republished by Penguin.
🇺🇦 Serhii Plokhy recommends the best books on Ukraine and Russia.
🇬🇱 Michael Segalov profiles Tété-Michel Kpomassie for The Guardian.
🚴♀️ Jen Rose Smith reviews Martijn Doolaard’s Two Years on a Bike.
🏙 John Hudson Publishing is a new independent publisher in the UK that focuses on the history of place: settlements, buildings, and landscapes.
🧻 The Bookseller (paywall) notes that global supply chain issues continue in the publishing industry, but the UK is hit especially hard with their added Brexit complications. They also report that UK travel guides “reign supreme as Covid restrictions inhibit overseas journeys.
🗣 Tim Hannigan, Monisha Rajesh, and Colin Thubron will talk about travel writing on March 26, 2022. Register online.
🚢 Speaking of supply chain, a highly anticipated cookbooks on New Orleans cuisine is delayed because a shipping container accident at sea. The books are at the bottom of the Atlantic.
🧻 And Italy’s Publishers Report a Crisis in Paper Costs, Art and Travel Books.
📚 The NY Times ran a feature on how a book is made!
✈️ Publishers Weekly discusses travel guides and travel books in 2022.
🦅 This is the wildlife photo of the year, as chosen by the public.
📷 Steve McCurry has an exhibition at the Etherton Gallery in Tucson.
🌏 Blak Lens: emerging Aboriginal photographers join forces – in pictures.
🇦🇶 Nori Jemil writes that photographing the Arctic is “more like war photography.”
📸 A Look Inside the Shortlisted Titles for Aperture’s 2021 PhotoBook Awards.
🏚 Some of the world’s most fascinating abandoned towns and cities.
🏍 How a Motorcycle Trip Through the Americas Turned Into a Lesson on Humility.
🌐 Celebrating the 100th issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK).
🧗 Anna Fleming writes about “How rock climbing gave me a new perspective on the world – and myself.”
😅 Thomas Swick’s cartoon on peer recognition has us laughing.
🥶 Mt. Everest’s highest glacier lost 2,000 years worth of ice since the 1990s, which has us crying.
🏳️🌈 Last month, the Talking Travel Writing newsletter covered travel media from an LGBTQ+ perspective: https://travelwriting.substack.com.
🤳 The Best Memoirs: The 2022 NBCC Autobiography Shortlist.
🇮🇷 Tom Chesshyre reviews Rebecca Lowe’s The Slow Road to Tehran.
👩🍳 Cookbooks Are About More Than Just Food Now.
🦜 Betsy Mason writes that the birdsong of some species have a lot in common with human speech.
🥇 You go, girl! Cal Flyn won Young Writer of the Year.
Books received (bought and/or gifted)
🧗♀️ Jimmy Chin. There and Back: Photographs from the Edge.
🇵🇪 Joseph Zarate. Wars of the Interior.
🇯🇵 Polly Barton. Fifty Sounds.
🇳🇿 Nina Mangy Powles. Small Bodies of Water.
🪶 Jeffrey Ostler. The Lakotas and the Black Hills.
Back matter
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