Friends,

I am excited to share with you some details about The Hill of the Skull.

The book features

  • 50 full-color photographs
  • a 7,000-word travel memoir
  • an afterword written by Pico Iyer
  • a 2,500-word conversation I had with British photographer Alys Tomlinson

The campaign will launch on Kickstarter this autumn, on September 25, 2023.

There will be a special discount available for the first 100 backers, so sign up to get notified about the launch now!

Some more book specs:

  • Hardcover, bound in premium cloth
  • First edition will be a limited print run
  • Collector’s edition limited to 20 copies
  • Trimsize: 7 x 10 inches (178 x 254 mm)
  • Page count: 128
  • Title font and illustrations are digitized from the 16th-century manuscripts of Guaman Poma, an Inca nobleman who wrote about his native Andes and exposed the poor treatment of the Andean peoples by the Spanish during the conquest of Peru

The book is not a cheap book to produce, no less because of the limited-edition print run than for the premium materials (cloth cover, offset printing, spectacular paper, etc.). I’ll be using some of the same printers and book manufacturers that the major art and photobook publishers use.

The money raised on Kickstarter will fund the hardcover print run.

As you know, Kickstarter is all or nothing. If we cannot secure at least our funding goal, printing will not go ahead, backers will not be charged, and this weird little experiment in travel literature and photography will fail. :’(

Please share this email/url!

And sign up to get notified about the launch now!

Now, onto what you came for:

My work

I’ve interviewed author and journalist Tom Parfitt about his new book High Caucasus on the Travel Writing World podcast.

I’ve been playing aruond on YouTube lately. I have no clue what I’m doing. But I’ve made videos on Software to Sequence Photobooks, Social Media and Engagement for Creatives, and more.

Are you on the new Threads app yet? If so, say hello.

Words

Did you hear this year’s Wainwright Prize will be offered in partnership with Kendal Mountain? The book prize will be announced in September. Check out the wonderful longlist here.

Deskbound Traveler wrote a list of some new and upcoming books about travel and place.

Images

The opening week of Rencontres Arles came and went, but many exhibits are still up through August.

The Royal Photographic Society’s International Photography Exhibition 165 shortlist is out. Check out some of the great work.

The enigma of photographer Francesca Woodman and the extraordinary art she left behind (paywall via FT).

Audio/Video

Ryan Murdock speaks with Richard Grant on the Personal Landscapes podcast.

That’s it for this month!