Travel Writers to Discuss their Craft and Portsmouth as a Destination

A panel of writers will be talking about Portsmouth as a travel destination and share advice on what it means to be a travel writer, locally, nationally and globally.

The public event, entitled From Pompey to the Seven Seas, features Portsmouth-born Ben Aitken, the bestselling author of Sh*tty Breaks, The Gran Tour and Dear Bill Bryson. Ben was named Travel Writer of the Year at the 2025 Travel Media Awards. Also on the panel is Tom Sykes, Associate Professor in Creative Writing at Portsmouth University, who has authored a guidebook to Ivory Coast, political travelogues of the Philippines and coastal England, and The Years of Travelling Anxiously, about travel and mental health.

Chaired by PhD scholar and published nature writer Rachel Birchley, the panel will give readings from their books and discuss how you learn the craft of travel writing. They will ask what the point of such writing is in our contemporary world of speedy transport, Google Maps, TripAdvisor and blogging. In addition, they will explore what allures and inspires writers about Portsmouth.

The other panellists include novelist and academic Victoria Leslie, author of Skein and Bone and Bodies of Water; 'planetary modeller' David Angus, who formerly worked for the BBC and has written about his expeditions to Chernobyl, South Africa and the largest cave in the world; and Anne Paton-Cragg, whose travel writing and competition-shortlisted fiction is informed by having lived in Portsmouth, Sheffield, London, Paris, Helsinki and Singapore.

Having dwelled on small islands like Guernsey and in big countries like the United States, Andy Hanlon is the author of Masala & Other Mixes and Island Life. Richard Peirce is a widely-travelled and published poet who has been to Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and elsewhere.

Brought to you by Icon Books and the local creative writing troupe T'Articulation, From Pompey to the Seven Seas will be held at the Menuhin Room at the Central Library, Portsmouth at 6.30pm on Friday July 10th. Admission is free but you will need to book a ticket through Eventbrite on this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/from-pompey-to-the-seven-seas-travel-and-place-tickets-1991954649980

Not only is the event free but every attendee will receive a free book featuring some of the best recent travel writing about Portsmouth.