I reviewed the new Cal Flyn for the Times. 'Where many contemporary nature writers emphasise joy, Flyn leans into discomfort — physical, intellectual, moral.' Wonderful, slightly lonely book. Hard-core romantic. www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

In honor of Earth Day, see images via The Atlantic Photo of the incredible resilience of nature: the many ways that plants, animals, and natural processes reclaim abandoned human places and find ways to thrive. theatln.tc/lvtDrAUp

A week today! Join us for the online launch of @beewyld.bsky.social's new book #TheApothecaryByTheSea - a year in an Orkney Garden - pictured here during a glorious #Grasmere #GoldenHour. Vik will be interviewed by our own co-captain @pollyrowena.bsky.social - April 28th, 7.30pm BST. 
Link in bio.

A Hosting: Interviews with Irish Writers 1991-2026 – A good listener’s illuminating, engaging conversations. Margaret Kelleher, chair of Anglo-Irish literature and drama at UCD, reviews A Hosting, my new book www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

Congratulations to @adamweymouth.bsky.social on winning the new £10,000 Sherborne Prize for Travel Writing for ‘Lone Wolf’. www.sherbornetravelwritingprize.com

The new £10,000 Sherborne Prize for Travel Writing has been awarded to Adam Weymouth for Lone Wolf.

Jan Morris, the historian and travel writer, was hungry for the world – all of it – and interminably restless. The roving mind of Jan Morris | Bryan Appleyard engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-...

More praise in The Sunday Times yesterday for Sara Wheeler’s biography of Jan Morris: ‘a riveting read by a writer at the top of her game’, says Justin Marozzi. thetimes.com/culture/books/article/jan-morris-a-life-sara-wheeler-review-mtf3ntfks

The spectacular film adaptation of my book Underland is in cinemas as of Friday. More details at: www.underlandfilm.com Working on more screenings in Scotland, Wales & NI.

Unfinished story of the day, from one elderly man to another leaving the gents’ at Marks & Spencer: ‘I can never go into a loo these days without thinking about that Winnebago…’

At the proof stage now. The new book - #ThePathlessLand - is inching towards tangible existence. Due out early September. (Cover art again by the brilliant Matt Johnson.)

Jan Morris 'could not have hoped for a better chronicler', says @ericawgnr.bsky.social in @theobserveruk.bsky.social of Sara Wheeler's 'engrossing, sensitive and fair-minded' account of Morris's life and times: observer.co.uk/culture/book....

Fintan O’Toole and Sam McBride win Christopher Ewart-Biggs Literary Prize

Introducing the 2026 #WomensPrize for Non-Fiction shortlist – six exceptional books, each a testament to how vital women’s writing is to our understanding of the world, and our imagining of tomorrow. Discover the shortlist here: youtu.be/v0O74n1r780 #WomensPrizeforNonFiction

Thanks to @alcs.co.uk for my bonus -- and for all the work it does on behalf of writers.

Happy Ferlinghetti Day — which is reminding me of time spent in San Francisco: deskboundtraveller.com/lighting-loc....

Coming soon: new books from Michael Kenna & Pico Iyer, Nicholas Crane, Raoul de Jong, Robert Moor and Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi. See deskboundtraveller.com/coming-soon-....

The winner of Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2026 (Fiction With A Sense Of Place) Award presented to the author’s publisher (Duckworth) A Splintering by Dur e Aziz Amna Set in PAKISTAN @stanfordstravel.bsky.social #blueskybooks #booksky

WINNER A Training School for Elephants by Sophy Roberts wins the Stanfords Travel Book of The Year Award at the 2026 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2026 www.stanfords.co.uk/a-training-s....

Learning a lot from 'Nightfaring' (Simon & Schuster), in which @meganeaves.com celebrates a world away from the bleaching lights of towns and cities. It’s a book that helps you see more in the dark.

‘Fear is good’: my scary subterranean journey into Underland, the film of Robert Macfarlane’s dazzling book

Coming soon: new books from Michael Kenna & Pico Iyer, Nicholas Crane, Raoul de Jong, @robertmoor.com, and Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi. See deskboundtraveller.com/coming-soon-....

Looking forward to 'Lion Song', a book in which Brian Jackman says that ecotourism has -- so far -- saved wild Africa. Out on March 19 (Brian Jackman/White Fox Publishing).

“Don’t ever be the first to stop applauding.” -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, writing about the unfortunate director of the local paper factory mannerofspeaking.org/2010/05/12/s...

Looking forward to 'Lion Song', a book in which Brian Jackman says that ecotourism has -- so far -- saved wild Africa. Out on March 19 (Brian Jackman/White Fox Publishing).

Plan to turn Irish borderlands into Unesco ‘region of literature’

Powerful piece in this week’s Sunday Times Magazine… and a puzzling one on the same paper’s property page.

Some personal news: after 17 wonderful years at the New Statesman I’ve decided it’s time for something new. Grateful to brilliant colleagues past and present. Here’s my farewell column from this week’s magazine. www.newstatesman.com/comment/2026...

State of the Union? This one's worth listening to...

Could be another one I find myself recommending -- along with Anne Lamott's 'Bird by Bird'... deskboundtraveller.com/great-advice....

Do you know the story of Mary Ann Patten? Author of #ToTheEdgeOfTheWorld Tilar J. Mazzeo chats to Dr Sam Willis about her incredible journey through treacherous waters for The Mariner's Mirror podcast: bit.ly/4qY2bDX ‘An absolutely brilliant book’ Dr Sam Willis

'... government of the profits, by the profits, for the profits.' Sinclair Lewis in 'It Can't Happen Here' (1935).

Longlist for the Highland Book Prize 2025: www.highlandbookprize.org.uk/longlist/.

Rory MacLean talks to @thebookseller.com about travel writing, the Sherborne Festival (sherbornetravelwritingfestival.com) & the journeys made for his forthcoming book, which were prompted by the death of his wife: www.thebookseller.com/features/ror....

Sinclair Lewis, in 'It Can't Happen Here' (1935), did warn us...

Sinclair Lewis, in 'It Can't Happen Here' (1935), did warn us...

Join us for an evening of conversation and music with Neil Hegarty and Iarla Ó Lionáird to celebrate the publication of Nicholas Allen’s Late Heaney. 📅 Saturday 28th February ⏰ 7.30pm 🎟️£15 Secure your tickets here > tinyurl.com/4k4e7avx @neilhegarty.bsky.social @dedalusdenaries.bsky.social

On Radio 4 this afternoon, Paul Farley's adaptation of 'Walden', Henry David Thoreau's 1854 memoir of how he 'went to the woods, because I wished to live deliberately...' www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Must-read of the day from Marilynne Robinson in the FT Weekend.

Rediscover Britain with me at @hatchards.bsky.social , Piccadilly on 4 Feb at 18:30 — an illustrated journey around the coast through photos, stories and adventure. I'd love to see you there! 🇬🇧📷 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rediscover...

'Minneapolis', the video www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDaP... #Minneapolis

"The star’s urgent and to-the-point protest song is not subtle about its target and right now that’s why it works so well," writes Matthew Cantor.

Short list for the new £10,000 Sherborne Prize for Travel Writing: deskboundtraveller.com/short-list-f....

Travel Photographer of the Year winners for 2025: www.tpoty.com/2025-winners/.

Travel Photographer of the Year winners for 2025: www.tpoty.com/2025-winners/.

This is going to be a really special series! 12+ literary icons (including Rebecca Makkai, Nathan Hill, & more) writing about a Chicago book from the past 10 years that exemplifies what our city & its literary culture is today. We're building a portrait of a new literary renaissance in Chicago!

I am pinching myself! So grateful to @fitzcarraldoeds.bsky.social and Soft Skull for all their support in getting this book out into the world. I wish all the @bookcritics.bsky.social finalists the best of luck! What a wonderful bunch of writers to find myself among. #greyhound #bookcriticscircle

Here’s a short poem about the power of poetry to change the world.

Reminded, by a newsletter from @slightlyfoxed.bsky.social, that Ronald Blythe, whose archive has been acquired by the British Library (theguardian.com/books/2026/jan/12/british-library-acquires-archive-ronald-blythe), figures himself in the Slightly Foxed archive: foxedquarterly.com/ronald-blyth....