Podcast appearances and mentions of Colin Thubron

Watch on Youtube instead - https://youtu.be/RinLuTi04cICurious Worldview Newsletter - https://curiousworldview.beehiiv.com/subscribeColin Thubron (Link's to all books)-----Colin Thubron is one of the greatest living travel writers. He started with the Mirror To Damascus in 1967 and with more than half a century and 18 travel books later published his journey along the Amur River just a few years ago. He's a contemporary of Theroux, Chatwin, early Dalrymple and inspiration for the newer generation of his genre, the likes of Rory Stewart, Levison Wood and many, many more. Colin has been a dream guest of mine for many years.This interview travelled a line across the map of his career. Colin reflects on his many experiences in Russia and China, the impact of historical events like the Cultural Revolution, the collapse of the Soviet Union - and the broader evolution of travel writing throughout the years. He gets into the effects of globalisation on cultural identities and how it's effected his experience over the decades. Colin observes the complexities of nationalism and patriotism, and as well discusses the role religion in his life, the nature of belief, and the rationality behind it all. Colin then comments on mortality and his legacy which leads to a discussion on how travel can serve as a coping mechanism for grief. Plus, together we also touch on the choices and more difficult trade offs surrounding parenthood and career, his aspirations for future literary projects, and the influence of serendipity behind it all. I can see from the analytics that not even 20% of you who are listening are following the show, I wish this to be 100! Therefore I would ask that you please consider following the show - whether on Spotify or Apple, this, alongside the reviews makes all the difference in the world… 00:00 - Colin Thubron02:29 - Reflections on Travel Writing07:15 - Evolving Perspectives on Russia10:36 - Cultural Observations in China15:02 - The Impact of Travel on Identity22:09 - The Evolution of Travel Writing32:47 - Brexit and Nationalism: A Personal Reflection39:55 - The Imprint of Home46:10 - Religion50:12 - The Impact of Travel on Grief56:03 - Influences and Inspirations in Writing01:03:28 - SerendipityConsider leaving a review on whichever platform you're listening on!

Rachel and Simon speak with the literary agent Clare Alexander. For the first portion of her career she worked in publishing, starting out in 1973 in the rights department at Penguin; after stints at Hamish Hamilton and Viking she became editor-in-chief of Macmillan and Picador. Clare published first novels by Helen Dunmore, Alex Garland, Amitav Ghosh, Haruki Murakami and Donna Tartt. In 1995, while at Viking, she was the editor of the winners of the Booker Prize, the Orange Prize (now the Women's Prize) and the Whitbread Award (the erstwhile Costa Book Awards) - the first editor ever to achieve this hat-trick. In 1998 Clare became a literary agent. Her client list includes Diana Evans, Helen Fielding, Armando Iannucci, Nicholas Shakespeare, Rory Stewart and Colin Thubron. We spoke to Clare about her early career as an editor, becoming an agent in the late 1990s, and working with authors including Pat Barker, Mark Haddon and Sebastian Faulks. A new edition of “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World's Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is available now. The updated version now includes insights from over 100 past guests on the podcast, with new contributions from Harlan Coben, Victoria Hislop, Lee Child, Megan Nolan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Philippa Gregory, Jo Nesbø, Paul Theroux, Hisham Matar and Bettany Hughes. You can order it via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Waterstones⁠⁠. You can find us online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

“To follow the Silk Road is to follow a ghost. It flows through the heart of Asia, but it has officially vanished leaving behind the pattern of its restlessness: counterfeit borders, unmapped peoples.” Colin Thubron, Shadow of the Silk Road Rather than being a bridge to link East and West, The Silk Road was a web of routes growing ever outwards. From its heart in Central Asia, it would stretch to all four corners of the continent. Yet its architects, The Kushans, like the network itself have all but vanished - Paul and Mikey go in search of this lost people, and the ‘ghost' of their leader, Kanishka the Great.   Get in touch and follow Heroes & Howlers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Produced by DM PodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the fourth episode in a new series, interviewer Chloe Fox talks to the legendary travel writer Colin Thubron about self-sufficiency, wisdom-in-action and tying up life's loose ends. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his 80th year, one of the most important travel writers of our time journeys along the Amur River — 1,100 miles, much of it on the China-Russia border. Sophy and Colin talk about their obsession with remote Siberia, and how to avoid (or avert) the gaze of the FSB.

Colin Thubron on an anthology of human beings straining at the limits.https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/endurance-levison-wood-book-review-colin-thubron/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simon and Rachel speak with the novelist and travel writer Colin Thubron. Colin worked in publishing in London and New York before writing his first travel book, "Mirror to Damascus", in 1967. Other early books continued to focus on the Middle East, but later he was drawn towards the Soviet Union and Communist China. In 1982 Colin travelled by car into the Soviet Union, a journey described in "Among the Russians". His best-known travel books include "Behind the Wall" (winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Award), "In Siberia" (which won the Prix Bouvier) and "Shadow of the Silk Road". Colin has also written eight novels, and between 2008 and 2017 he served as president of the Royal Society of Literature. We spoke to Colin about exploring Russia, China and central Asia, his latest book, "The Amur River", and his parallel career as a fiction writer. This episode was produced in conjunction with the London edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival, and is sponsored by Curtis Brown Creative, the writing school attached to the major literary agency. CBC has provided an exclusive discount for Always Take Notes listeners. You can use the code ATN20 for £20 off the full price of Writing a Memoir, or any other four- or six-week online writing course. You can find us online at alwaystakenotes.com, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is patreon.com/alwaystakenotes. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

Night of Fire by Colin Thubron is the choice for this month's Church Times Book Club — and on the podcast this week, the author is interviewed by Francis Martin (who has written this month's Book Club essay about it). Thubron is an acclaimed travel writer and novelist, whose eight novels and 11 works of non-fiction make up an oeuvre that transports readers around the globe, and deep into the human psyche. He is a former President of the Royal Society of Literature. As well as talking about Night of Fire (synopsis below), the conversation explores the relationship between travel writing and fiction, faith and neuroscience, and the part played by doubt in the creative process. The conversation was recorded at Colin Thubron's home in west London. This is the fourth Book Club podcast, a monthly series launched recently in association with the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature. Night of Fire is published by Vintage at £8.99 (Church Times Bookshop £8.09). Sign up to receive the free Book Club email once a month. Featuring discussion questions, podcasts and discounts on each book: churchtimes.co.uk/newsletter-signup Discuss this month's book at facebook.com/groups/churchtimesbookclub About Night of Fire: A fire spreads through a house, threatening to engulf the six tenants: a failed priest, an atheist neurosurgeon, and an obsessive photographer, along with a naturalist, a schoolboy, and a traveller. Each has lived a fascinating life, conjured in Thubron's lyrical prose. But, as the inferno courses through the building, we start to notice inexplicable resonances between the lives of the tenants: motifs that recur and details that repeat, and that surely cannot all be explained as coincidence. Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.

Paddy Leigh Fermor was just 18 when he set forth from the Hook of Holland, bound for the Golden Horn . . . Artemis Cooper, Paddy's biographer, and Nick Hunt, author of Walking the Woods and the Water, join the Slightly Foxed team to explore the life and literary work of Patrick Leigh Fermor.  Equipped with a gift for languages, a love of Byron and a rucksack full of notebooks, in December 1933 Paddy set off on foot to follow the course of the Rhine and the Danube, walking hundreds of miles. Years later he recorded much of the journey in A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water. In these books Baroque architecture and noble bloodlines abound, but adventure is at the heart of his writing. There was to have been a third volume, but for years Paddy struggled with it. Only after his death were Artemis and Colin Thubron able to see The Broken Road into print.  The trilogy inspired Nick Hunt to follow in Paddy's footsteps. What were country lanes are now highways, and many names have changed, but Nick found places that Paddy had visited, with their echoes of times past.  Following discussions of a love affair with a Romanian princess, Paddy's role in the Cretan resistance in the Second World War and Caribbean volcanoes in The Violins of Saint-Jacques, we turn our focus to his books on the Greek regions of Roumeli and the Mani, and the beautiful house that Paddy and his wife Joan built in the latter, Kardamyli. And via our reading recommendations we travel from Calcutta to Kabul In a Land Far from Home, to William Trevor's Ireland and to Cal Flynn's Islands of Abandonment. Books Mentioned We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch with Jess in the Slightly Foxed office for more information.  Nella Last's War, Slightly Foxed Edition No. 60 (1:12) Graham Greene, A Sort of Life, Plain Foxed Edition (1:18) Artemis Cooper, Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure (2:32) Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water (4:15) Nick Hunt, Walking the Woods and the Water (6:52) Patrick Leigh Fermor, The Broken Road, edited by Artemis Cooper and Colin Thubron (23:05) Patrick Leigh Fermor, Three Letters from the Andes (24:23) W. Stanley Moss, Ill Met by Moonlight (34:31) George Psychoundakis, The Cretan Runner (38:25) Patrick Leigh Fermor, The Traveller's Tree is out of print (40:06) Simon Fenwick, Joan: Beauty, Rebel, Muse: The Remarkable Life of Joan Leigh Fermor (41:11) Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time to Keep Silence (43:24) Patrick Leigh Fermor, The Violins of Saint-Jacques (43:27) Patrick Leigh Fermor, Mani (46:27) Patrick Leigh Fermor, Roumeli (46:31) Robert Macfarlane, The Gifts of Reading, inspired by A Time of Gifts Syed Mujtaba Ali, In a Land Far from Home (49:05) Taran Khan, Shadow City (51:21) Eugenie Fraser, The House by the Dvina (51:44) Cal Flynn, Islands of Abandonment (53:49) William Trevor, Fools of Fortune (55:33) Elizabeth Bowen, The Last September (56:10) Related Slightly Foxed Articles A Great Adventure, Andy Merrills on Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time of Gifts; Between the Woods and the Water, Issue 38 (4:15) Off All the Standard Maps, Tim Mackintosh-Smith on Patrick Leigh Fermor, Roumeli, Issue 2 (46:31) Other Links Artemis Cooper's website: www.artemiscooper.com  Nick Hunt's website: www.nickhuntscrutiny.com  Siân Phillips reads from A Time of Gifts Read two extracts from A Time of Gifts: Dropping anchor at the Hook of Holland and The largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe ‘When I first read A Time of Gifts I felt it in my feet': Robert Macfarlane reads from The Gifts of Reading The Leigh Fermor House in Kardamyli, Greece – Benaki Museum Artemis Cooper on the Leigh Fermor House, Condé Nast Traveller  Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable

This week on the podcast we are joined by Andy Corbley. Andy is an American traveler, remote reporter, staff writer at Good News Network, and the founder of World at Large news. He joined us from Italy where he lives with his wife! In this episode, we talk about how Andy ended up living in Italy, what inspired him to set out as a traveler and digital nomad, how he created World at Large news, and some of his top tips for anyone who wants to be a writer or a journalist. Enjoy! In this episode:Andy's travel storyAdventure and romance in Italy during a pandemicHow Andy learned ItalianFiguring out how to make money while traveling and building a career as a writerBreaking into journalism and founding World at Large news Practical tips for launching a news businessAndy's writing process and book plansInspiration for travel contentAndy's “off-the-beaten-path” Italy recommendationsGuest Links:Website: https://www.worldatlarge.newsWebsite: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/staff/andy-corbley-writer-byline/Custom Italian Tours: https://www.customitaliantours.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Worldatlargenews/References:Henry Rollins Interview on Skeptic Tank with Ari ShaffirVagabonding by Ralph Potts: https://rolfpotts.com/books/vagabonding/Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown: https://explorepartsunknown.comThe 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris: https://tim.blog/tim-ferriss-books/?_ga=2.245456326.355119673.1652807425-1646131785.1652807425#the-4-hour-workweekDepartures: https://www.departuresentertainment.com/about.htmlAuthor Paul Bowles: https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Bowles-Books/s?k=Paul+Bowles&rh=n%3A283155Author Colin Thubron: https://www.amazon.com/Colin-Thubron/e/B000AP88L8%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

It's a great pleasure to welcome Colin Thubron to the Asian Review of Books podcast. Travel writer and novelist, Colin has written countless books that bring faraway sights and peoples to English-speaking readers–many of which covered regions in China, Russia, Central Asia and elsewhere on the Asian continent. In this episode, Colin and I talk about The Amur River: Between Russia and China (Harper, 2021), which traces the path of the Amur from its origins in Mongolia to its end-point in the Pacific Ocean. We also discuss what means to be a travel writer in today's world—which has undergone a recent and rapid expansion, and even more recent and rapid collapse, of travel. Colin Thubron is an acclaimed travel writer and novelist, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first books were about the Middle Eas—Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. But later he was drawn to the lands which he says his generation was brought up to fear: the Soviet Union and Communist China. In 1982 he traveled by car into the Soviet Union, a journey described in Among the Russians (Ulverscroft: 1989). From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind The Wall: A Journey Through China (Random House: 1987), The Lost Heart of Asia (Random House: 1994), In Siberia (Penguin: 2000), Shadow of the Silk Road (Chatto & Windus: 2006) and To a Mountain in Tibet (Chatto & Windus: 2011). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Amur River. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/geography

It's a great pleasure to welcome Colin Thubron to the Asian Review of Books podcast. Travel writer and novelist, Colin has written countless books that bring faraway sights and peoples to English-speaking readers–many of which covered regions in China, Russia, Central Asia and elsewhere on the Asian continent. In this episode, Colin and I talk about The Amur River: Between Russia and China (Harper, 2021), which traces the path of the Amur from its origins in Mongolia to its end-point in the Pacific Ocean. We also discuss what means to be a travel writer in today's world—which has undergone a recent and rapid expansion, and even more recent and rapid collapse, of travel. Colin Thubron is an acclaimed travel writer and novelist, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first books were about the Middle Eas—Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. But later he was drawn to the lands which he says his generation was brought up to fear: the Soviet Union and Communist China. In 1982 he traveled by car into the Soviet Union, a journey described in Among the Russians (Ulverscroft: 1989). From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind The Wall: A Journey Through China (Random House: 1987), The Lost Heart of Asia (Random House: 1994), In Siberia (Penguin: 2000), Shadow of the Silk Road (Chatto & Windus: 2006) and To a Mountain in Tibet (Chatto & Windus: 2011). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Amur River. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review

It's a great pleasure to welcome Colin Thubron to the Asian Review of Books podcast. Travel writer and novelist, Colin has written countless books that bring faraway sights and peoples to English-speaking readers–many of which covered regions in China, Russia, Central Asia and elsewhere on the Asian continent. In this episode, Colin and I talk about The Amur River: Between Russia and China (Harper, 2021), which traces the path of the Amur from its origins in Mongolia to its end-point in the Pacific Ocean. We also discuss what means to be a travel writer in today's world—which has undergone a recent and rapid expansion, and even more recent and rapid collapse, of travel. Colin Thubron is an acclaimed travel writer and novelist, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first books were about the Middle Eas—Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. But later he was drawn to the lands which he says his generation was brought up to fear: the Soviet Union and Communist China. In 1982 he traveled by car into the Soviet Union, a journey described in Among the Russians (Ulverscroft: 1989). From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind The Wall: A Journey Through China (Random House: 1987), The Lost Heart of Asia (Random House: 1994), In Siberia (Penguin: 2000), Shadow of the Silk Road (Chatto & Windus: 2006) and To a Mountain in Tibet (Chatto & Windus: 2011). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Amur River. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

It's a great pleasure to welcome Colin Thubron to the Asian Review of Books podcast. Travel writer and novelist, Colin has written countless books that bring faraway sights and peoples to English-speaking readers–many of which covered regions in China, Russia, Central Asia and elsewhere on the Asian continent. In this episode, Colin and I talk about The Amur River: Between Russia and China (Harper, 2021), which traces the path of the Amur from its origins in Mongolia to its end-point in the Pacific Ocean. We also discuss what means to be a travel writer in today's world—which has undergone a recent and rapid expansion, and even more recent and rapid collapse, of travel. Colin Thubron is an acclaimed travel writer and novelist, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first books were about the Middle Eas—Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. But later he was drawn to the lands which he says his generation was brought up to fear: the Soviet Union and Communist China. In 1982 he traveled by car into the Soviet Union, a journey described in Among the Russians (Ulverscroft: 1989). From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind The Wall: A Journey Through China (Random House: 1987), The Lost Heart of Asia (Random House: 1994), In Siberia (Penguin: 2000), Shadow of the Silk Road (Chatto & Windus: 2006) and To a Mountain in Tibet (Chatto & Windus: 2011). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Amur River. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

It's a great pleasure to welcome Colin Thubron to the Asian Review of Books podcast. Travel writer and novelist, Colin has written countless books that bring faraway sights and peoples to English-speaking readers–many of which covered regions in China, Russia, Central Asia and elsewhere on the Asian continent. In this episode, Colin and I talk about The Amur River: Between Russia and China (Harper, 2021), which traces the path of the Amur from its origins in Mongolia to its end-point in the Pacific Ocean. We also discuss what means to be a travel writer in today's world—which has undergone a recent and rapid expansion, and even more recent and rapid collapse, of travel. Colin Thubron is an acclaimed travel writer and novelist, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first books were about the Middle Eas—Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. But later he was drawn to the lands which he says his generation was brought up to fear: the Soviet Union and Communist China. In 1982 he traveled by car into the Soviet Union, a journey described in Among the Russians (Ulverscroft: 1989). From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind The Wall: A Journey Through China (Random House: 1987), The Lost Heart of Asia (Random House: 1994), In Siberia (Penguin: 2000), Shadow of the Silk Road (Chatto & Windus: 2006) and To a Mountain in Tibet (Chatto & Windus: 2011). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Amur River. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature

It's a great pleasure to welcome Colin Thubron to the Asian Review of Books podcast. Travel writer and novelist, Colin has written countless books that bring faraway sights and peoples to English-speaking readers–many of which covered regions in China, Russia, Central Asia and elsewhere on the Asian continent. In this episode, Colin and I talk about The Amur River: Between Russia and China (Harper, 2021), which traces the path of the Amur from its origins in Mongolia to its end-point in the Pacific Ocean. We also discuss what means to be a travel writer in today's world—which has undergone a recent and rapid expansion, and even more recent and rapid collapse, of travel. Colin Thubron is an acclaimed travel writer and novelist, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first books were about the Middle Eas—Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. But later he was drawn to the lands which he says his generation was brought up to fear: the Soviet Union and Communist China. In 1982 he traveled by car into the Soviet Union, a journey described in Among the Russians (Ulverscroft: 1989). From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind The Wall: A Journey Through China (Random House: 1987), The Lost Heart of Asia (Random House: 1994), In Siberia (Penguin: 2000), Shadow of the Silk Road (Chatto & Windus: 2006) and To a Mountain in Tibet (Chatto & Windus: 2011). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Amur River. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

It's a great pleasure to welcome Colin Thubron to the Asian Review of Books podcast. Travel writer and novelist, Colin has written countless books that bring faraway sights and peoples to English-speaking readers–many of which covered regions in China, Russia, Central Asia and elsewhere on the Asian continent. In this episode, Colin and I talk about The Amur River: Between Russia and China (Harper, 2021), which traces the path of the Amur from its origins in Mongolia to its end-point in the Pacific Ocean. We also discuss what means to be a travel writer in today's world—which has undergone a recent and rapid expansion, and even more recent and rapid collapse, of travel. Colin Thubron is an acclaimed travel writer and novelist, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first books were about the Middle Eas—Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. But later he was drawn to the lands which he says his generation was brought up to fear: the Soviet Union and Communist China. In 1982 he traveled by car into the Soviet Union, a journey described in Among the Russians (Ulverscroft: 1989). From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind The Wall: A Journey Through China (Random House: 1987), The Lost Heart of Asia (Random House: 1994), In Siberia (Penguin: 2000), Shadow of the Silk Road (Chatto & Windus: 2006) and To a Mountain in Tibet (Chatto & Windus: 2011). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Amur River. Follow on Facebook or on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Dreaming of faraway adventures and landscapes beyond your local park? This week's list has got you covered with the top five travel books from library land's own Ken Haigh. Ken was formerly the CEO of Collingwood Public Library and has authored two books, most recently "On Foot to Canterbury, a son's pilgrimage". Escape with us through his favourite travel books and as we head out on walking, cycling and culinary adventures! Ken's Top Five Travel Books 1. Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes by Robert Louis Stevenson 2. The Lands of Lost Borders by Kate Harris 3. Behind the Wall: a Journey through China by Colin Thubron 4. The Old Way by Robert Macfarlane 5. A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor Have a topic that you want to bring to Library Land Loves? Get in touch with Michelle @citybrarian or OLA @OnLibAssoc

“To follow the Silk Road is to follow a ghost. It flows through the heart of Asia, but it has officially vanished leaving behind the pattern of its restlessness: counterfeit borders, unmapped peoples.” Colin Thubron, Shadow of the Silk Road Rather than being a bridge to link East and West, The Silk Road was a web of routes growing ever outwards. From its heart in Central Asia, it would stretch to all four corners of the continent. Yet its architects, The Kushans, like the network itself have all but vanished - Paul and Mikey go in search of this lost people, and the ‘ghost’ of their leader, Kanishka the Great. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some may have supposed that Thubron had done his last Big Journey (he is now 82), but this is arguably his biggest yet, and most arduous. Indomitable, venerable, he follows this immense river from its source in remote Mongolian bogs to where it emerges in the Sea of Okhotsk in the Russian Far East. It is a complicated journey, much of it surrounded by poverty, desolation, wrecked environments, social collapse and historical contortions in spite of the natural wonders of the landscapes through which he passes. CT is always fascinating and compelling, and this introduction to a world scarcely known to the West is an astonishing feat.    We have a limited number of signed copies. Click here to order the book online, or get in touch by telephone or email to reserve a copy.    Edited by Magnus Rena    Music, in order: Orkiestra Moskva, Na sopkach Mandzurii Maxim Troshin, The Hills of Manchuria Nikolai Nazarov, Separate Exemplary Ochestra of USSR Defense Ministry, On the Hills of Manchuria Alexander Zlatovski, On the Hills of Manchuria

Prompted by reading my extended kvetch last week about rabbits eating my pea vines, lettuce, cabbages, brussels sprouts, and broccoli, my old friend Tom sent me the following message: “Colin Thubron, in his little book on Cyprus (pre-invasion), writes about... Read More ›

Prompted by reading my extended kvetch last week about rabbits eating my pea vines, lettuce, cabbages, brussels sprouts, and broccoli, my old friend Tom sent me the following message: “Colin Thubron, in his little book on Cyprus (pre-invasion), writes about... Read More ›

The Auckland Writers Festival 13-week WINTER SERIES streamed live and free every Sunday morning from 3 May - 26 July 2020. Episode 13 features: MAGGIE O'FARRELL (Ireland / Scotland) Acclaimed Irish-British novelist Maggie O'Farrell has won numerous awards for her books including the Betty Trask, the Somerset Maugham and the Costa Book Awards. Her latest novel 'Hamnet', a recreation of the story of the death of Shakespeare's eleven-year-old son, has been shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Her memoir 'I am, I am, I am' reached number one in the Sunday Times bestseller list. COLIN THUBRON (England) Travel writer Colin Thubron is considered one of Britain’s finest wordsmiths and was ranked by The Times as one of the 50 greatest post-war British writers. Colin has written 15 travel books, largely focussed on Russia, Central Asia and China, including 'Mirror to Damascus', 'Shadow of the Silk Road', and 'To A Mountain in Tibet’ He is also an accomplished novelist. ROSE LU (Aotearoa New Zealand) Rose Lu has a master’s in creative writing from Victoria University of Wellington, winning her year’s creative non-fiction prize. Her work has been published in Sport, Pantograph Punch, Turbine Kapohau, and Mimicry and she has recently published the essay collection 'All Who Live on Islands'. ANN PATCHETT (United States) Beloved American author Ann Patchett has written three non-fiction titles and seven novels, including the Orange-Prize winning 'Bel Canto' and her latest 'The Dutch House'. She is the co-founder of indie bookstore Parnassus Books and in 2012 was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. HOST: PAULA MORRIS (Aotearoa New Zealand) Paula Morris (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Whātua) is an award-winning fiction writer and essayist. The 2019 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellow, she teaches creative writing at The University of Auckland, sits on the Māori Literature Trust and is the founder of the Academy of NZ Literature. This series provides an opportunity to champion New Zealand and international books that were to feature at our cancelled May Festival, we encourage you to support writers and NZ publishers and booksellers by purchasing featured books. Order via our Festival bookseller. #awfwinterseries

В свежем эпизоде What’s The Craic? Сэм и его новая гостья из Бостона, Катерина, обсуждают своё любимое хобби — чтение. Прослушав этот выпуск вы узнаете, на какие книги стоит обратить внимание, откроете для себя имена ранее неизвестных авторов, определитесь с лучшим временем и местом для чтения книг, а также поймёте, как это полезное хобби превратить в ежедневный ритуал. СОДЕРЖАНИЕ: 00:00:00 — Introduction. 00:02:10 — How important is reading. 00:05:40 — Books to read as a child: detectives, fairytales, fantasy. Enid Blyton (a) — the Secret Seven (b). 00:10:22 — Magazines and newspapers. 00:13:15 — Importance of libraries. 00:16:57 — Modern bookshops (c). 00:19:21 — The best place and time of the day to read. 00:20:57 — Favourite genres. 00:23:10 — Three favourite books or authors. Terry Pratchett (d), Neil Gaiman (e), Colin Thubron (f), Herman Melville (g). 00:29:07 — Is the book always better than the film? 00:33:45 — What books are you reading now: Sirens of Titan (h), Sandman (i). 00:35:17 — Outro. СКРИПТ ЭПИЗОДА: Текстовая расшифровка диалога оформлена в виде субтитров и доступна к просмотру во время проигрывания подкаста на сайте: BigAppleSchool.com/p/wtc_28 ПОЛЕЗНЫЕ ССЫЛКИ: a. britannica.com/biography/Enid-Blyton b. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Seven c. skyscanner.net/news/22-most-beautiful-bookshops-world d. terrypratchettbooks.com/about-sir-terry e. neilgaiman.com/About_Neil/Biography f. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Thubron g. britannica.com/biography/Herman-Melville h. vonnegutlibrary.org/sirens-titan-emma-reacts/ i. io9.gizmodo.com/neil-gaimans-sandman-is-becoming-an-expensive-netflix-s-1836009481

We trace how the conquests of the infamous Tamerlane, the “great game” of imperial rivalry, and the revolutions of modern Russia shaped the map of central Asia that we see today. We consider how contemporary central Asians try to navigate the dangerous shoals of environmental disaster and rampant corruption, often while tethered to older Islamic, Turko-Mongolic, and nomadic traditions -- particularly in the looming shadow of a resurgent China. Please support this podcast to hear my patron-only lectures on historical myths like “Western Civilization” -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Suggested further reading: Peter Golden, "Central Asia in World History"; Gavin Hambly, "Central Asia"; Rene Grousset, "The Empire of the Steppes"; Colin Thubron, “Shadow of the Silk Road”; Sahadeo and Zanca, “Everyday Life in Central Asia” correction: The word "Tajik" originally meant "non-Turk" or "Persian," not "Muslim"

Hazel, Jennie and host Philippa explore the art of travel writing with the acclaimed author and biographer Sara Wheeler, and Barnaby Rogerson of the well-loved independent publisher Eland Books. Buckle-up and join us on an audio adventure that takes in a coach trip around England, an Antarctic sojourn, a hairy incident involving a Victorian lady and her trusty tweed skirt and a journey across Russia in the footprints of its literary greats, with nods to Bruce Chatwin, Isabella Bird, Norman Lewis, Martha Gellhorn and Patrick Leigh Fermor along the way. And to bring us back down to earth, there’s the usual round-up of news from back home in Hoxton Square and plenty of recommendations for reading off the beaten track. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 39 minutes; 01 seconds) Books Mentioned Slightly Foxed Issue 62 (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/slightly-foxed-issue-62-published-1-june-2019/) (2:05) The Fountain Overflows (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/rebecca-west-the-fountain-overflows/) , Volume I of Rebecca West’s ‘Saga of the Century’ (2:36) Something Wholesale (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/something-wholesale-no-41/) , Eric Newby (4:20) Love and War in the Apennines (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/eric-newby-love-and-war-in-the-apennines/) , Eric Newby (4:24) Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/sara-wheeler-terra-incognita/) , Sara Wheeler (8:00) A Dragon Apparent (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/norman-lewis-dragon-apparent/) , Norman Lewis (11:49) In Patagonia (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/bruce-chatwin-in-patagonia/) , Bruce Chatwin. Sara Wheeler abbreviates the opening line, which reads in full: ‘In my grandmother’s dining-room there was a glass-fronted cabinet and in the cabinet was a piece of skin.’ (18:39) Growing: Seven Years in Ceylon (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/leonard-woolf-growing/) and The Village in the Jungle (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/leonard-woolf-village-in-the-jungle/) , Leonard Woolf (19:50) Travels with Charley (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/steinbeck-travels-with-charley/) , John Steinbeck (20:35) Semi Invisible Man: The Life of Norman Lewis (https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/julian-evans/semi-invisible-man/9780330427081) , Julian Evans (21:09) Naples ‘44 (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/naples-44-norman-lewis/) , Norman Lewis (21:31) Passage to Juneau (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/jonathan-raban-passage-to-juneau/) , Jonathan Raban (22:24) Mud and Stars (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/sara-wheeler-mud-and-stars/) , Sara Wheeler, published 4 July 2019 (23:27) The Saddest Pleasure (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/moritz-thomsen-saddest-pleasure/) , Moritz Thomsen (24:29) A Time of Gifts (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/leigh-fermor-patrick-time-gifts-adventures-harriet/) and Between the Woods and the Water (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/leigh-fermor-patrick-woods-water-adventures-harriet/) , Patrick Leigh Fermor (25:16) Arabs (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/tim-mackintosh-smith-arabs/) , Tim Mackintosh-Smith (33:32) Lost in Translation (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/eva-hoffman-lost-translation/) , Eva Hoffman (34:31) A Woman in the Polar Night, Christiane Ritter is currently out of print. The edition with an introduction by Sara Wheeler will be published by Pushkin Press (https://www.pushkinpress.com/) in November 2019 (35:52) Related Slightly Foxed Articles & Illustrations Mood Music (https://foxedquarterly.com/rebecca-west-saga-of-the-century-literary-review/) , Rebecca Willis on Rebecca West’s ‘Saga of the Century’, Issue 62 (2:22) Ire and Irritability (https://foxedquarterly.com/jane-austen-sense-and-sensibility-literary-review/) , Pauline Melville on Sense and Sensibility, Issue 62 (2:56)  Travelling Fearlessly (https://foxedquarterly.com/colin-thubron-travel-writing-literary-review/) , Maggie Fergusson interviews Colin Thubron in Issue 58 (20:26) A Great Adventure (https://foxedquarterly.com/patrick-leigh-fermor-great-adventure/) , Andy Merrills on Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water, Issue 38 (25:24) In Search of Home (https://foxedquarterly.com/eva-hoffman-lost-translation-literary-review/) , Sue Gee on Lost in Translation in Issue 55 (34:31) Other Links   The Slightly Foxed Podcast website page of episodes and reviews (https://foxedquarterly.com/category/podcast/) (1:00) Independent Bookshop Week 2019 (https://indiebookshopweek.org.uk/) , 15-22 June. Follow #IndieBookshopWeek and @booksaremybag online (3:38) Eland Books (https://www.travelbooks.co.uk/) (11:39) Katy MacMillan-Scott, Adventures for Harriet (https://www.adventuresforharriet.co.uk/) : Travelling from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul (31:45) Lodestars Anthology (https://www.lodestarsanthology.co.uk/) , selected issues available to buy from Slightly Foxed here (https://foxedquarterly.com/products/lodestars-anthology-travel-magazine/) (37:41) Rucksack Magazine (https://rucksackmag.com/) (37:58) Music and sound effects Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach Reading music: Lost Memories courtesy of FreeSfx.co.uk (http://www.freesfx.co.uk) The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable (https://www.podcastable.co.uk/)

READ TO ME is the podcast to listen for what we love. In this episode, we read three pages from TO A MOUNTAIN IN TIBET by Colin Thubron. We drop into the narrator on the trail of Mount Kailas, the world’s holiest mountain, knowing nothing about what happened before this moment, or what is to come. Into our open minds, the craft and the power of just these three pages rise with odd freedom. We see a shape of grief, we lurch backwards into lost history, we stop on the side of a mountain, far away from home.

“It’s a terrible thing being a biographer,” Artemis Cooper has said. “One is such a rat.” A consummate inquisitor of the talented, Cooper’s subjects have included food guru Elizabeth David,novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard, and travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor, whose last book she co-edited with Colin Thubron. She is also the author of Cairo in the War, 1939-1945, co-author with her husband Antony Beevor of Paris After the Liberation, 1944-1949, and editor of two collections of her grandmother Lady Diana Cooper’s letters, to her husband Duff and to her friend Evelyn Waugh. Cooper delivers an hour of conversation with Owen Scott discussing the concept of memory, and telling tales of the 20th-century. Supported by Heartland Bank.

Jarvis Cocker’s series exploring the human condition after dark boards the Wireless Nights Express to hear tales of night people on sleeper - or sleepless - trains. He begins on the Caledonian Sleeper, leaving the noise and crowds of London Euston to make a night-time journey across the country to the Scottish Highlands. In the dining car and corridors he meets fellow passengers and stewards. And as he starts to drift off in his cabin, the train makes some unscheduled stops. Geoff MacCormack recalls taking the Trans-Siberian express with his childhood friend David Bowie and a sobering stop at the East German border. Tessa Smit boards a twenty-four hour party train; and travel writer Colin Thubron on the time he got off his train, in the middle of Siberia. Producer: Georgia Catt

James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to the renowned travel writer and novelist Colin Thubron about his account of travelling through Russia in the late 1990s, In Siberia. It's the story of how Thubron made a 15,000-mile journey through an astonishing region - one twelfth of the land surface of the whole earth. He journeyed by train, river and truck among the people most damaged by the breakup of the Soviet Union, travelling among Buddhists and animists, radical Christian sects, reactionary Communists and the remnants of a so-called Jewish state; from the site of the last Czar's murder and Rasputin's village, to the ice-bound graves of ancient Scythians, to Baikal, the deepest and oldest of the world's lakes. Presenter : James Naughtie Interviewed guest : Colin Thubron Producer : Dymphna Flynn February's Bookclub choice : A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride (2013).

Life in cash-strapped Venezuela and a return to war-ravaged Damascus. Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories and insights from around the world. Katy Watson examines the staying power of Venezuela's ruling party. Despite ongoing shortages of food, medicine, and cash, Nicola Maduro's government has tightened its grip on the country. Simon Parker hears renewed talk of independence on the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region of Denmark, but struggles to decipher what independence would actually mean. Angellica Bell assesses the damage wrought by Hurricane Maria on the land of her grandfather – Dominica. And the travel writer Colin Thubron returns to Damascus fifty years after the publication of his homage to the city. He is surprised to find old friends still there, to stumble through an Old City largely intact, and to be taken in for questioning by the intelligence service. “We can’t see an end to it,” people tell him of the civil war.

Five writers recall a night they spent somewhere out of the ordinary.Colin Thubron is the first to report back. Thirty years ago he was in a Chinese town, unknown to the rest of the world. His time here was haunted by memories of a merciless leader, whose bed he will sleep in for one night only. One night is enough though ...Producer Duncan Minshull.

Named by The Times as one of the greatest post-war British writers, travel writer and novelist Colin Thubron speaks to Julia Wheeler about a life filled with remarkable journeys – from Damascus to Siberia. He also talks about his latest novel Night of Fire.

Named by The Times as one of the greatest post-war British writers, travel writer and novelist Colin Thubron speaks to Julia Wheeler about a life filled with remarkable journeys – from Damascus to Siberia. He also talks about his latest novel Night of Fire.

How can we construct a sense of self from the fragments of life we can recall? We dissect how science and fiction shed light on the mysteries of memory

Mariella Frostrup talks to Colin Thubron

Colin Thubron on a journey to a mountain in Tibet. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 1969, Colin Thubron is a regular contributor and reviewer for magazines and newspapers including The Times, the Times Literary Supplement and The Spectator. He is author of many best selling and acclaimed works. His latest travel books are Shadows of the Silk Road (2006), an account of his 7,000-mile journey along the route of the Silk Road; and To a Mountain in Tibet (2011), about his pilgrimage to sacred Mount Kailas. 5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Learn more about 5x15 events: 5x15stories.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/5x15stories Facebook: www.facebook.com/5x15stories Instagram: www.instagram.com/5x15stories

In 2010 Nick Hunt set out on an epic walk in the footsteps of Patrick Leigh Fermor, across the whole European continent ‘from the Hook of Holland to the Golden Horn.’ Relying, like his hero, on the hospitality of strangers and using Patrick Leigh Fermor’s writings as his only guide, Hunt crossed Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, partly to see how much had changed, and how much hadn’t, but mainly in order to have a ‘good old-fashioned adventure.’ His account of his journey Walking the Woods and the Water is published by Nicholas Brealey. Nick Hunt was in conversation with Patrick Leigh Fermor’s friend and biographer Artemis Cooper, who in 2013 worked with Colin Thubron to complete Paddy’s final work The Broken Road. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With Mark Lawson, including news of the shortlist for the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for album of the year, announced today. Travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor, who died in 2011, walked from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in the early 1930s. This resulted in two best-selling books, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water. Colin Thubron and biographer Artemis Cooper discuss how they pieced together Leigh Fermor's unfinished manuscript and diaries to produce the final part of the trilogy, The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos. And Dennis Kelly, who wrote the book for the hit musical Matilda and created the cult Channel 4 series Utopia, on his debut play for the Royal Court Theatre in London. The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas is about a man who tries to make his fortune by telling lies. Producer Tim Prosser.

Colin Thubron, infaticabile viaggiatore e scrittore, racconta i suoi 50 anni di viaggi e di incontri, i valori, i limiti da accettare e i rischi da affrontare. Viaggi vissuti sempre come una ricerca della verità e dell’umanità di quei luoghi per poi restituirne con i suoi romanzi lo spirito, per superare il pregiudizio, abbandonare la logica dilagante del “turista-consumatore”. Ha percorso tutta la Via della Seta, 7.000 miglia dalla Cina al Mediterraneo, la strada che per secoli ha dato vita a una “globalizzazione” arcaica. Ha attraversato paesi molto diversi e in continuo cambiamento, come Kyrgyzstan, Tagikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran e Turchia, regioni dove l’incontro con l’altro e il confronto con la propria cultura di appartenenza creano esperienze variegate e profondamente differenti.

Philip Dodd talks to Playwright Howard Brenton discussing his new play, 55 days, focusing on Cromwell and Charles 1st. The life of traveller and writer Paddy Leigh Fermor often appears to have been one great adventure. Biographer Artemis Cooper is joined by acclaimed travel writer Colin Thubron to discuss who the great travel writer really was. Corin Throsby reviews Elena, the Russian film which won a special prize at the Cannes Film Festival this year. And Jo Nesbo, the Norwegian writer and economist, reflects on his novel The Bat, as the first of the Harry Hole detective novels is finally translated into English.

Take a magic-carpet ride along the length of the most storied of ancient trade routes, the Silk Road, with Colin Thubron, one of the world's greatest living travel writers. Mr. Thubron describes his journey of some 7000 miles-by local bus, truck, car, donkey cart, camel, and foot-out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran into Kurdish Turkey, which led to his bestselling book, Shadow of the Silk Road. Colin Thubron is Britain's most distinguished travel writer, an award-winning author whose books cover Asia and Russia. His first books were about the Middle East-Damascus, Lebanon, and Cyprus. In 1982 he traveled in the Soviet Union, pursued by the KGB. From these early experiences developed his great travel books on the landmass that makes up Russia and Asia: Among the Russians (1983); Behind the Wall: A Journey through China (1987), which won the Hawthornden Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award; The Lost Heart of Asia (1994); In Siberia (1999), Shadow of the Silk Road (2006); and most recently, To a Mountain in Tibet (2011). Mr. Thubron has also written several novels, including Emperor (1978), set in A.D. 312; A Cruel Madness (1984), winner of the PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award; Falling (1989); Turning Back the Sun (1991), a haunting tale of love and exile; Distance (1996); and To the Last City (2002), which tells the story of a group of travellers in Peru. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 1969 and currently its president, Colin Thubron is a regular contributor and reviewer for The Times, the Times Literary Supplement, and The Spectator. In 2007, he was appointed a CBE by Queen Elizabeth.

Lola Escudero nos acerca al novelista y escritor inglés, amante de los viajes exóticos y de las culturas árabe y rusa, Colin Thubron.

Two of the world's most respected travel writers discuss pilgrimages to exceptional places, mining one's personal history, and the holiest mountain on earth.

John McCarthy talks to travel writer Colin Thubron about hiking up a sacred mountain in Tibet and to members of an expedition that explored communities around the Atlantic Ocean's coast, from Africa to the United States. Producer Chris Wilson.

Throughout this week, Neil MacGregor has been exploring the world of the late 7th century, with objects from South America, Britain, Syria and Korea. Today's object is from the 4000 mile tangle of routes that has become known as the Silk Road - that great conduit of ideas, technologies, goods and beliefs that effectively linked the Pacific with the Mediterranean. His chosen object which lets him travel the ancient Silk Route is a fragile painting telling a story of "industrial espionage". It comes from the Buddhist kingdom of Khotan, now in Western China, and tells a powerful story about how the secrets of silk manufacture were passed along the fabled route. The cellist and composer Yo Yo Ma, who has long been fascinated by the Silk Road and who thinks of it as "the internet of antiquity", and the writer Colin Thubron consider the impact of the Silk Road - in reality and on the imagination. Producer: Anthony Denselow.

The castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is novelist and travel writer Colin Thubron. Author of books on the Middle East, China and Russia, he will be divulging to Sue Lawley some of the delights and dangers of his many experiences, as well as sharing his passion for music.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Love Duet (from Creation) by Franz Joseph Haydn Book: A Year of Grace by Victor Gollancz Luxury: Scuba-diving equipment

The castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is novelist and travel writer Colin Thubron. Author of books on the Middle East, China and Russia, he will be divulging to Sue Lawley some of the delights and dangers of his many experiences, as well as sharing his passion for music. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Love Duet (from Creation) by Franz Joseph Haydn Book: A Year of Grace by Victor Gollancz Luxury: Scuba-diving equipment