The Travel Writing Tribe

'Travel writing used to be dominated by Old Etonians with colonialist tendencies; but [Tim Hannigan's] well-researched critique shows that the 'travellees' are writing back.' -- The Guardian 'The travel industry might be beginning to emerge from crisis, but travel writing still finds itself on shaky ground, wracked with guilt over carbon emissions and the echoes of colonialism, and with its relevancy (and sales) increasingly challenged by digital alternatives. Hannigan explores the past and searches for a future for the genre, interviewing celebrated practitioners, including Dervla Murphy and William Dalrymple.' -- Financial Times (Travel Book of the Year 2021) '[A] deft piece of genre-hopping.' -- The Telegraph 'A timely look at the genre - why we travel, and why and how we write about it.' -- Irish Independent 'An excellent and thought-provoking book. [...] what could have been a scholarly theoretical discourse is thoroughly enlivened by Tim Hannigan's decision to turn it into a travel odyssey.' -- Times Literary Supplement 'Meticulously researched and written with endearing humility.' -- Lucy Popescu, New Humanist 'Taking the genre back to its origins ... Hannigan turns the concept on its head in his quest to hunt out travel writers themselves.' -- Geographical Magazine '[A] lucid and illuminating book.' -- Money Control 'Much more than a who, what and why of travel writing, Tim Hannigan's book is a meditation on why we travel and our need to travel and experience other places. Essential reading in the age of lockdown and Instagram.' -- Nicholas Walton, author of 'Singapore, Singapura' and 'Genoa, La Superba ' 'Is travel writing dead? No, claims Hannigan, as he embarks on an intriguing quest to discuss the genre with its practitioners. His lucid study offers an intelligent and entertaining examination of its key aspects, including authenticity, gender, reception, practices and purpose.' -- Barbara Schaff, Chair of British Literature and Culture, Georg-August University Goettingen, and author of 'Handbook of British Travel Writing' ' The Travel Writing Tribe walks the tightrope between travel writing, memoir and essay without skipping a beat. Interrogating a genre long critiqued for exoticizing the Other, Hannigan masterfully and engagingly illustrates how and why travel writing continues to fascinate.' -- Rune Graulund, Associate Professor in the Department for the Study of Culture, University of South Denmark, and co-editor of 'Postcolonial Travel Writing: Critical Explorations' 'The pleasure of The Travel Writing Tribe comes from Hannigan's diligent efforts to get to the bottom of it all - setting off on trains and planes, sometimes roughing it at hostels, on mini-adventures to meet travel writers and record interviews. The result is, effectively, a travel book about writing about travel ' -- The Critic 'A timely book amid this pandemic, which has exacerbated the inequities between those that can move and those who can't. [The Travel Writing Tribe] appears to be the first of its kind aimed at the general reader, and does a comprehensive job of collecting the myriad perspectives already percolating on the subject.' -- Mekong Review