We’ve been working hard these past few months on a number of exciting editorial projects. One of these was a new format travel brochure, which we wrote on behalf of WEXAS travel club. The 168-page China, Japan & South East Asia brochure was launched recently and has been well received by members. We are now busily writing the next installment, Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific, due for publication in December.

In the past month Amy and Duncan have both presented tutorials at Regent’s College in London, for students on the college’s copywriting course. Amy gave a talk on how to write effective press releases, while Duncan led a session on coming up with attention grabbing headlines. Regent’s College is one of the UK’s most respected private colleges, based in Regent’s Park in London. It runs a wide range of courses, including British and American degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

In December Duncan was accepted into the British Guild of Travel Writers, the UK’s premier association of media professionals who focus on travel. The Guild’s members include former Traveller magazine editors Melissa Shales and Jonathan Lorie, and distinguished industry names such as Bradt travel guides founder Hilary Bradt, veteran broadcasters Judith Chalmers and John Carter, and BBC travel presenter Sankha Guha. The Guild, which celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2010, comprises more than 270 journalists, authors, editors, photographers and broadcasters – all of whom are adept at bringing places alive and communicating their own enthusiasm for journeys and for destinations. For more about the British Guild of Travel Writers visit www.bgtw.org.

Jonathan Scott, an Honorary Editor of Traveller magazine, gave a talk at the RGS last Tuesday 14th December, speaking in his usual impassioned tone about the plight of his favourite group of mammals: the big cats. Focusing on the lion population of the Masai Mara, the Big Cat Diary presenter revealed the truth about lions’ continued fight for survival. The images of playful lion cubs that are often scattered across billboards, brochures and magazines and portray a seeming abundance in the species numbers, do not, he explained, tell the true story of the difficulties lions’ face in East Africa and their tragic decline in population.

The evening was organised by Friends of Conservation (FOC), a wildlife and conservation charity who work in a number of key regions across the globe and was a pre-cursor to Lions’: The Truth a BBC series presented by Jonathan which will run in the new year. If you’d like to find out more, visit the FOC website here and find out how you can get involved in fundraising for the charity, and help out on such an important issue.

The new autumn issue of Traveller marks the magazine’s 40^th Anniversary. Below is Amy’s editorial, which offers an insight into the latest issue…

THIS ISSUE MARKS Traveller’s 40th birthday, and we’ve received a richness of presents in the way of contributions by some of our Honorary Editorial Board to help us celebrate, for which we are deeply grateful. The wealth of experience between these pages is substantial and I’ve been struck again by the heritage of a magazine that I still consider to be special after a decade here. Ten years is a long time to spend on one ship, but time fades into irrelevance when the journey continues to fascinate, sailing along different shorelines in every issue.

But even as a ship speeds ahead, it’s fun sometimes to stand at the back and look out at the horizon behind you, watching the furrows recede, wondering at the sheer distance covered. When Traveller set sail 40 years ago, it charted an adventurous course. Diving into those early issues – when the magazine was called Expedition – reveals a spirit of inquiry, a sense of intrepidness, a profound appreciation of the world we live in and a sense of curiosity.

I’d like to think some of those things still hold true. There are features we’re unlikely to run now, such as the 12-page investigation entitled ‘The Latest Loch Ness Monster Evidence’, and I don’t think we could devote 30 pages to a single journey these days.

But while we now cover a wider range of places, I’d like to keep the tendency the magazine has had over the years for calling in at unexpected destinations, and for telling absorbing stories. And what stories we have in this issue, from the Honorary Editorial Board members who have joined us on board the good ship. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston knows all about the pleasures of sailing the seas and shares them with us here. John Simpson knows all about the scarier spots of the world and has sent us a short piece

as polished as his television broadcasts and laced with the same hint of danger. Sir Christopher Ondaatje was kind enough to send us an account of his encounter with a leopard in Africa, as well as sharing his thoughts on life over lunch at his local Italian restaurant, which gives us our Guest Traveller interview and an insight into his extraordinary life. Colin Thubron sat patiently through a very long list of questions in a pleasant but noisy riverside bar, and with impeccable courtesy kept talking through the music and whirr of helicopters, giving us a fascinating account of the writing life with which to open our books pages. William Dalrymple was in Afghanistan when we got in touch and so we have the great good luck of running a piece on Herat told with his trademark mixture of panache and depth. Robin Hanbury-Tenison gave us a wonderful piece on Albania and the chance to stay at his home in Cornwall, which his wife Louella runs as the best sort of bed and breakfast, where guests are welcomed as one of the family and treated to the stories behind the artefacts he has collected during a lifetime spent exploring. Sir Ranulph Fiennes took the time to write about Dhofar for us, a place he first visited in the Sixties as a Captain in the army of the Sultan of Oman, and one that retains a hold on him to this day. Colonel John Blashford-Snell recounts his historic Darien expedition in Panama, a tale, like so many of his tales, full of derring-do and a can-do attitude in the face of the seemingly impossible or impassable.

Jonathan Scott, always enthusiastic, always supportive, always fun to spend time with, whirled into the Traveller office in between continents and later sent us pieces that talk about three of them – Africa, Antarctica and Asia – with glorious pictures, some taken by him, others by his talented wife Angela.

We’ve remembered presidents past too, with a painting by Sir Peter Scott acting as this issue’s ‘Dream On’ image, and with a spectacular vision of Africa as seen and photographed by the late, great Sir Wilfred Thesiger. Kari Herbert sent us a moving story about her father Sir Wally Herbert, the great polar explorer. Kari can be seen on one of our old covers, snuggled up under furs with her parents, a wee bundle of a baby on a sledge in the snow, exploring the edges of the world. Our regular ‘Art of Travel’ feature looks at some of these covers, including the one above. I’ve been between them for a great part of this day, remembering contributors past, the ages and stages, immersed in Traveller then, popping back into Traveller now.

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety, and I feel tremendously lucky to be the editor wishing her a happy 40th birthday with many happy returns.

Applications are now being taken for the 2011 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travelling Fellowship. The Trust was formed in 1965 as a lasting memorial to Sir Winston Churchill and has awarded 4450 Fellowships in that time. It now makes grants to as many as 100 British citizens annually, so that they can widen their experience through overseas projects of topical or personal interest which are of benefit to their profession, community and the UK as a whole.

Celebrated travel writer and photographer Nick Danziger was one such Fellow, using his WCMT grant in the early 1980s to travel from Europe to China, passing through major factions of the Islamic world, including Turkey, Pakistan, Iran and war-torn Afghanistan – where he travelled alongside the Mujahideen, who were in conflict with the Soviet Union at the time. He was also the first westerner in decades to cross from Pakistan into the closed western province of China since the revolution on 1949. His incredible 18-month journey was recounted vividly in his book Danziger’s Travels: Beyond Forbidden Frontiers, published in 1987. But he couldn’t have made the trip without the grant he received from the WCMT, which he applied for in 1982. He has since written a number of other travel-related books, and is also as an award-winning professional photographer and documentary maker. A selection of his photographs from the Afghan city of Herat feature in the latest issue of Traveller.

To apply for a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust grant, visit www.wcmt.org.uk. Applications can be made online.

The British Guild of Travel Writers turned 50 last week and to celebrate, the Guild threw a fantastic party in the stunning top floor restaurant of The Battery in Canary Wharf. Wine and nibbles were consumed in intense fashion whilst guests overlooked a sun drenched Thames far below; a fitting setting perhaps for the dawn of the Guild’s next half-century.

The BGTW remains a key establishment of support for individual freelancers and those who work full-time in all parts of the travel industry. It provides travel writers, photographers, editors and broadcasters with an opportunity to meet like minded travellers and as put so succinctly by its Chairman Melissa Shales, ‘the Guild is the office water dispenser, for those without an office’.

Duncan is now contributing to the new We Blog The World website, re-launched at www.bloggersonthego.com

We Blog The World is a blog network dedicated to global storytelling across a wide array of topics, from travel to business, fashion to politics. An innovative knowledge-sharing online community, its aim is to educate, facilitate and enhance communication between cultures as well as serve as a platform where though-provoking conversations can flourish. You can read his blogs as they are updated by clicking through here

TRAVELLERS’ TALES FESTIVAL 2010

Hugely looking forward to the Travellers’ Tales Festival, taking place at the historic headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society in London this weekend. I think it’s the only festival in the world dedicated to travel writing and photography, so it’s probably a must for anyone interested in either or both – and probably for anyone passionate about travelling.

Intrepid explorer Benedict Allen is due to open the festival with what promises to be a riveting account of his extraordinary journeys around the world, which should provide a suitably inspiring start to a weekend’s worth of talks by equally well travelled photographers and writers. And closing the festival is Don McCullin, arguably the greatest war photojournalist who I understand is making a very rare appearance.

The weekend stars numerous travel photographers including greats such as Frans Lanting who is one of National Geographic’s in-house-contributors and Carol Beckwith & Angela Fisher, well known for their striking African portraits. Writing-wise, there are two rare appearances: the grand dame of travel writing Jan Morris and Irish writer Dervla Murphy who wrote From Ireland to India with a Bicycle will both be there. Other speakers are the inspiring and wildly witty Chris Stewart and the acclaimed BBC special correspondent Fergal Keane, who is as poetic as he is hard-hitting.

In addition, the festival will run workshops and solo spots by emerging new talents dotted about the building’s many rooms and halls so punters can pick up a few hints and tips from the experts. I’m sure it’ll be an interesting and pretty inspiring weekend. It runs from the 19-21 February in London and should provide a refreshing pause from the rather rotten winter.

Visit the website for tickets… www.travellerstalesfestival.com
This blog also appears on We Blog The World

When we set up & Publishing, oh a few weeks ago now, it was with the intention of developing one or two magazine and book ideas we’ve been obsessing about for some time. Yes, the bulk of our business is beautiful bespoke for our lovely clients, but we want to bespoke a bit for ourselves too.
Too early to share any more information on these mysterious magazines just yet, but not too early to announce that we’re delighted that the rather wonderful Charlotte Greig is going to be joining us as an Editorial Consultant to develop some of these projects. Charlotte has had a sterling career in publishing, most recently at Picador as Senior Editor. We’re not bigging her up because we like her so much but because she’s a serious talent – here’s what Picador Publisher Paul Baggaley has to say: 

“She has been a brilliant editor with a wonderful eye for a commercial literary title, most recently of course the bestselling Guernica, and is adored  by all the writers she has worked  with.”

And here’s the announcement in this week’s Bookseller – it’s official!
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/110249-greig-to-leave-picador.html