I’ll say more about the way forward for the blog over the coming weeks, but we’ve always spoken a lot about more general walking and the benefits of pilgrimage. That might be a theme! If you are in London on Tuesday 21st November, you can hear author Alice Albinia and Dr Guy Hayward of the British Pilgrimage Trust discuss Alice’s new book, The Britannias: An Archipelago’s Tale. There will be much talk about walking and pilgrimage! Hope to see some of you there.

The event will be held at any traveller’s favourite bookshop Stanfords. You can book tickets here.

Here are the details:

Alice Albinia has spent the past seven years travelling around the edges of Britain, piecing together ancient, medieval and modern myths of islands ruled by women.

Join us for an evening of fascinating conversation with Alice and fellow author and pilgrim Dr Guy Hayward as we journey through her new book The Britannias and discover some hidden histories.

The Britannias reveals how much of Britain’s culture, history and ways of thinking has been formed by the islands around it. From Neolithic Orkney to modern-day Thanet, Alice Albinia takes us on a journey around the furthest reaches of Britain’s island topography, once known (wrote Pliny) by the collective term, Britanniae. Sailing over borders, between languages and genres, trespassing through the past to understand the present, this book knocks the centre out to foreground neglected epics and subversive voices. An ancient British mythology of islands ruled by women runs like a secret, hidden river through the literature of this land – from Roman colonial-era reports to early Welsh poetry, Renaissance drama to Restoration utopias – transcending and subverting the most male-fixated of ages. The Britannias looks far back into the past for direction and solace, while searching for new meaning about women’s status in the body politic. Boldly upturning established truths about Britain, it pays homage to the islands’ beauty, independence and their suppressed or forgotten histories.

The Britannias boldly upturns established truths about Britain, while revealing its suppressed and forgotten beauty.

About the speakers:

Alice Albinia is an award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction. Her books include Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River and Cwen, set on an archipelago which comes under female rule, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. Albinia has worked as an editor and journalist, writing for publications including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and National Geographic. She has taught writing in Orkney for the Islands’ Council, at King’s College London and the University of Kent.

Dr Guy Hayward is Director of the British Pilgrimage Trust (britishpilgrimage.org), which he co-founded in 2014 to promote ‘bring your own beliefs’ pilgrimage in Britain, and leads guided pilgrimages around Britain. He has been interviewed about modern pilgrimage for BBC1 and BBC2 TV’s ‘Pilgrimage’ and Channel 4’s ‘Britain’s Ancient Tracks’, BBC Radio 4 and has written for the Guardian. Guy completed a PhD at Cambridge on how singing forms community, founded choralevensong.org and is half of musical comedy double act Bounder & Cad. His website is guyhayward.com follow him on IG / TW on @drguyhayward

The event will start promptly at 7.00pm

Tickets £7

Includes glass of wine/soft drink

£5.00 off the published price of The Britannias for ticket holders when purchased on the evening.