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....

What a fabulous collection of travel books to come this year. Here’s another to add to the list: Wayward Women, out 29 January, by Rhonda Carrier and Tracey Davies @traceydanger.bsky.social and published by Bedford Square.

Always the way, at this time of year. As soon as you publish a roundup of forthcoming books (deskboundtraveller.com/words-from-the-road-for-2026/), you learn of a couple more you'd certainly have included. See deskboundtraveller.com.

Pico Iyer's spent half a century travelling the world. In @nytimes.com he writes about 'an invitation to a very foreign country, a film set': nytimes.com/2026/01/09/travel/marty-supreme-movie-cast-pico-iyer.html.

I chair the acquisitions meeting of @reaktionbooks.bsky.social, an independent publisher. We're open to unsolicited book proposals: history, art, music, film, food, animal studies and any great indefinable non-fiction book ideas you might have. Check out the list and get in touch.

Looks like a great bill in May for the @chipcampdenlitfest.bsky.social: www.campdenmayfestivals.co.uk/literature/e...

The prize is open to works of travel writing by a woman writing in English. Submissions are welcome from any country or place of residence. Translations are not eligible. To see the full eligibility criteria, and to apply, visit the link in our bio.

Words from the road for 2026: new books on travel and place from writers including Helena Attlee, Howard Cunnell, Louis de Bernières, Charles Foster, Kapka Kassabova and Sara Wheeler. deskboundtraveller.com/words-from-t...

Words from the road for 2026: new books on travel and place from writers including Helena Attlee, Howard Cunnell, Louis de Bernières, Charles Foster, Kapka Kassabova and Sara Wheeler. deskboundtraveller.com/words-from-t...

Poem with a subliminal message.

Where Norman Maclean, born on this day in 1902, and fishing have taken me over the years: deskboundtraveller.com/lighting-loc....

"Some of you have mentioned the massive bunker I’m building beneath the ballroom. Don’t worry about that, it’s there just in case of an emergency, like if I wanted to be Santa forever and someone lied and said I couldn’t be."

The new issue of @geographical.co.uk has an extract from #SmallEarthquakes on the Atacama Desert. It is a story of how one of the driest & least hospitable places on the planet helped to power a global agricultural revolution, spark conflicts & redraw borders. 📖 @hurstpublishers.bsky.social

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a singular writer in possession of a great talent must be in want of a plaque on a pizza restaurant.

Late-afternoon light…

What a wonderful sight this was at Newport Sands, Pembrokeshire last week 🌈 #sharemondays2025 #fsprintmonday #stormhour #thephotohour #blueskymonday #seascape #landscapephotography #photography #photographersofbluesky #pembrokeshire #newportsands #newportpembs #rainbow

Watching 'The New Yorker at 100', and hearing from the fact-checkers, I'm reminded of a conversation in 1997 with the great Norman Lewis (travelbooks.co.uk/norman-lewis). He told me he was presented with 32 queries about one piece he had filed for the magazine. Having mentioned a crack in a church

What a thrill to be longlisted for a @bookcritics.bsky.social award in Criticism with so many truly brilliant authors. I am so grateful to Soft Skull Press for supporting GREYHOUND. It really has been quite the ride ... @catapultbooks.bsky.social #greyhound #softskullpress #independentpublishers

A treat in this picture, too…

John Carey: The last public critic

"Reading is vast, like the sea, but you can dip into it anywhere and be refreshed. Reading takes you into other minds and makes them part of your own. Reading releases you from the limits of yourself. Reading is freedom. Now read on." RIP, John Carey.

Presumably Trump will still collect the FIFA Prize for Tourism Promotion… www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Recovering the lost history of Gaza My @NewStatesman review of two remarkable new histories of Gaza by @anneirfan & Jean-Pierre Filiu share.google/kHQKke7OPoed...

Books that would make good Christmas presents? Here are a few on travel and place: deskboundtraveller.com/my-books-of-....

I Am Martin Parr is on iPlayer. #RIP

The Blenheim Estate lost an oak, and as they like their fallen trees to remain in place to encourage wildlife, they asked artist Matthew Crabb to do his magic Photo: Pete Seaward

The Royal Society of Literature is thrilled to announce its new President is Elif Shafak. Shafak is an award-winning British-Turkish novelist and storyteller, and author of 21 books, 13 of which are novels. Her works have been translated into 58 languages.