Edward Stanford Travel Writing shortlists unveiled

Fifty-seven books in 10 awards categories have been shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards (full listings below), with Vivien Godfrey, chairman and chief executive of Stanfords, calling it “a sensational line up of immensely talented writers across the full spectrum of the travel writing genre.”

Winners in each category will be presented with a hand-made globe; the winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award, in association with The Authors Club, will receive £2,500 at an awards ceremony at The London Transport Museum on 26th February 2020. The event will be compered by author and former "Countryfile" presenter Julia Bradbury.

Among the judges for the awards are explorer Benedict Allen, authors Jonathan Lorie, Julia Wheeler and Nick Hunt, magazine editors Phoebe Smith (Wanderlust) and Amy Sohanpaul (Wexas’ Traveller), BA president Nic Bottomley, bloggers Paul Cheney and Tim Hannigan, Tina Hartas, m.d. of Trip Fiction website, plus WH Smith and Waterstones’ buyers and the senior Stanfords team.

The full shortlists are as follows:

Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year

Underland, Robert Macfarlane (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin General)
On the Plain of Snakes, Paul Theroux (Hamish Hamilton, Penguin General)
Epic Continent, Nicholas Jubber (John Murray)
Lotharingia, Simon Winder (Picador)
The Bells of Old Tokyo, Anna Sherman (Picador)
Last Days in Old Europe, Richard Bassett (Allen Lane)

Fiction, with a Sense of Place

The Pine Islands, Marion Poschmann, translated by Jen Calleja (Serpent’s Tail)
Snegurochka, Judith Heneghan (Salt)
The Parisian, Isabella Hammad (Jonathan Cape, Vintage Publishing)
Love in No Man’s Land, Duo Ji Zhuo Ga (Head of Zeus)
Bangkok Wakes To Rain, Pitchaya Sudbanthad (Hodder & Stoughton, Sceptre)
Little Faith, Nickolas Butler (Faber & Faber)

Adventure Travel Book of the Year

Outpost, Dan Richards (Canongate Books)
Rough Magic: Riding the World’s Wildest Horse Race, Lara Prior-Palmer (Ebury Press, PRH)
From the Lion’s Mouth: A Journey Along the Indus, Iain Campbell (Bradt Travel Guides)
The Impossible Climb, Alex Honnold, El Capitan and the Climbing Life, Mark Synnott (Atlantic Books–Allen and Unwin)
Where There's A Will: Emily Chappell (Pursuit Books)
Journeys in the Wild: The Secret Life of a Cameraman, Gavin Thurston (Seven Dials–Orion)

Children’s Travel Book of the Year

The Lost Book of Adventure: from the notebooks of the Unknown Adventurer, by The Unknown Adventurer, edited by Teddy Keen (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books)
Together, Isabel Otter and Clover Robin (Little Tiger Group / Caterpillar)
Prisoners of Geography, Tim Marshall (Elliott & Thompson)
Darwin’s Voyage of Discovery, Jake Williams (Pavilion Children’s Books)
Fire Girl, Forest Boy, Chloe Daykin (Faber Children’s)
Incredible Journeys, Levison Wood, illustrated by Sam Brewster (Hachette Children’s)

Travel Memoir of the Year

A Beginner’s Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations, Pico Iyer (Bloomsbury)
Footnotes, Peter Fiennes (Oneworld)
Mud and Stars: Travels in Russia with Pushkin and Other Geniuses of the Golden Age, Sara Wheeler (Jonathan Cape, Vintage)
Just Another Mountain: A Memoir, Sarah Jane Douglas (Elliott & Thompson)
The Summer Isles, Philip Marsden (Granta)
North Korea Journal, Michael Palin (Hutchinson)

Illustrated Travel Book of the Year

The Sky Atlas, Edward Brooke-Hitching (Simon & Schuster)
Atlas of Vanishing Places–The lost worlds as they were and as they are today, Travis Elborough (White Lion Publishing)
Silk Roads, Susan Whitfield (Thames & Hudson)
Brilliant Maps, Ian Wright (Granta)
The Atlas of Unusual Borders, Zoran Nikolic (Collins)
Airline Maps, Mark Ovenden & Maxwell Roberts (Penguin, Particular)

Photography Travel Book of the Year

Japanese Gardens, Monty Don, Photographed by Derry Moore (Two Roads, Hachette)
Remembering Lions, Wildlife Photographers United (Remembering Wildlife)
Remarkable Road Trips, Colin Salter (Salamander, Pavilion Books)
Forest: Walking Among Trees, Matt Collins, photography by Roo Lewis (Pavilion Books)
Trope London, Sam Landers (editor), Tom Maday (editor) (Trope Edition/INGRAM)
Two Wheels South, Matias Corea & Gestalten (Gestalten)

Travel Cookery Book of the Year

Be My Guest, Priya Basil (Canongate Books)
The Forest Feast Mediterranean: Simple Vegetarian Recipes Inspired by My Travels, Erin Gleeson (Abrams)
Fire Island: Recipes from Indonesia, Eleanor Ford (Murdoch Books)
Bazaar, Sabrina Ghayour (Mitchell Beazley)
Hungry, Jeff Gordinier (Icon Books)
AMA, Betty Hallock (Author), Josef Centeno (Author),  Ren Fuller (Photographer) (Chronicle)

Debut Travel Writer of the Year

Salt on Your Tongue, Charlotte Runcie (Canongate Books)
Mind is the Ride, Jet McDonald (Unbound)
The Country of Larks: A Chiltern Journey, Gail Simmons (Bradt Travel Guides)
That Untravell’d World: Seven Journeys Through Turkey, Nicholas Dylan Ray (Signal Books Ltd)
Extreme Economies, Richard Davies (Transworld – Bantam Press)
Sovietistan, Erika Fatland, translated by Kari Dickson (MacLehose Press)

Bradt Travel Guides New Travel Writer of the Year

Closer to Home by Kirstin Zhang
Just Visiting by Chris Baker
Of Straws that Break Camels’ Backs by Christopher Walsh