A Traveller’s Tales: Colin Thubron

The master of travel writing discusses his extraordinary adventures in the Middle East, Russia and China

Colin Thubron is Britain’s (and surely the world’s) leading writer of travel books.  All his life he has been exploring some of the most remote places in the Middle East and Asia, in the course of which he has crafted some of the finest travel writing in the English language. His latest book describes his extraordinary adventures on the Amur River, which forms the border between Russia and China.  Colin will be in conversation with festival trustee Derek Johns

Winner of the 2022 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards

Shortlisted for 2021 Duff Cooper Prize

A FINANCIAL TIMES, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR

ONE OF THE DAILY TELEGRAPH‘S BEST 75 BOOKS OF 2021

the amur river

Colin Thubron

Colin Thubron is an acknowledged master of travel writing, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first writing was about the Middle East – Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. In 1982 he travelled into the Soviet Union in an ancient Morris Marina, pursued by the KGB, a journey he recorded in Among the Russians. From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind the Wall (winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Award), The Lost Heart of Asia, In Siberia (Prix Bouvier) and Shadow of the Silk Road. His most recent book is The Amur River. Colin Thubron was President of the Royal Society of Literature from 2010 to 2017.

Derek Johns

Derek Johns has been a bookseller, editor, publisher and literary agent.  He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and has served as a trustee of English PEN and as a member of the advisory committee of the Booker Prize Foundation.  His book Ariel: A Literary Biography of Jan Morris was published in 2016.