Colin Thubron is an acknowledged master of travel writing, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first writing was about the Middle East - Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. In 1982 he travelled into the Soviet Union in an ancient Morris Marina, pursued by the KGB, a journey he recorded in Among the Russians. From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind the Wall (winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Award), The Lost Heart of Asia, In Siberia (Prix Bouvier) and Shadow of the Silk Road (all available in Vintage).In 2010 Colin Thubron became President the Royal Society of Literature.
Thubron writes very well indeed... He carries with him the talisman of erudition combined with intuition Sunday Times Thubron knows the real Cypriots... He evinces a never unsympathetic observation and a respect for the incongruous that put him in the category of Kinglake and Edward Lear Daily Telegraph Purchased by blistered and bleeding feet, this picture is extraordinarily detailed and vivid... An accomplished linguist and historian, his passionate concern for antiquity in all its aspects - mythological, architectural, conceptual - lends weight and warmth to every chapter Financial Times Colin Thubron is in a class of his own Scotsman Most memorable and full of insight Lawrence Durrell