Thomas Cook Travel Book Award
Encyclopedia
The Thomas Cook Travel Book Award originated as an initiative of Thomas Cook AG
in 1980, with the aim of encouraging and rewarding the art of literary travel writing. The awards stopped in 2005 (2004 being the last year an award was given). As of 2008, the only other travel book award in Britain is the Dolman Best Travel Book Award
, begun in 2006.
Thomas Cook AG
This article contains historical information about Thomas Cook AG until its merger with My Travel - for the new company see - Thomas Cook Group...
in 1980, with the aim of encouraging and rewarding the art of literary travel writing. The awards stopped in 2005 (2004 being the last year an award was given). As of 2008, the only other travel book award in Britain is the Dolman Best Travel Book Award
Dolman Best Travel Book Award
The Dolman Best Travel Book Award is one of the two principal annual travel book awards in Britain, and the only one that is open to all writers...
, begun in 2006.
Winners
- 2004, Richard GrantRichard Grant (writer)Richard Grant is a freelance British travel writer based in Arizona. He was born in Malaysia, lived in Kuwait as a boy and then moved to London. He went to school in Hammersmith and received a history degree from University College, London...
, Ghost Riders: Travels with American Nomads - 2003, Jenny DiskiJenny Diski-External links:***...
, Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking around America With Interruptions - 2002, Ma JianMa Jian (writer)Ma Jian is a Chinese writer.Ma was born in Qingdao on August 18, 1953. In 1986, he moved to Hong Kong after a clampdown in which some of his works were banned. In 1997 he left for Germany, followed by a move to England in 1999...
, Red Dust: A Path Through China - 2001, Stanley StewartStanley StewartStanley Stewart FRSL is an English travel writer. He has won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award twice, in 1996 for Frontiers of Heaven and again in 2001 for In the Empire of Genghis Khan .-Works:...
, In the Empire of Genghis Khan: An Amazing Odyssey Through the Lands of the Most Feared Conquerors in History - 2000, Jason ElliotJason ElliotJason Elliot is a British travel writer; his works include An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan and Mirrors of the Unseen: Journeys in Iran .-Awards and honors:*2002: ALA Notable Books for Adults, An Unexpected Light...
, An Unexpected Light: Travels in AfghanistanAn Unexpected Light: Travels in AfghanistanAn Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan is a travel book written by British travel writer Jason Elliot. An Unexpected Light won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in the UK and became a New York Times bestseller in the USA.-Awards and honors:... - 1999, Philip MarsdenPhilip MarsdenPhilip Marsden also known as Philip Marsden-Smedley is an English travel writer and novelist.Marsden has a degree in anthropology and worked for some years for The Spectator magazine. He became a full-time writer in the late 1980s...
, The Spirit-Wrestlers: A Russian Journey - 1998, Tim Mackintosh-SmithTim Mackintosh-SmithTim Mackintosh-Smith is a British, Yemen-based, Oxford-educated Arabist, writer, traveller and lecturer.Mackintosh-Smith lives in an ancient tower house off the "Market of the Cows" in the old city of San'a, Yemen. He is the author of the Yemen: Travels in Dictionaryland and Yemen: The Unknown...
, Yemen:Travels in Dictionary Land - 1997, Nicholas CraneNicholas CraneNicholas Crane is an English geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster. Since 2004, he has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two: Coast, Great British Journeys, Map Man and Town....
, Clear Waters Rising: A Mountain Walk Across Europe - 1996, Stanley StewartStanley StewartStanley Stewart FRSL is an English travel writer. He has won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award twice, in 1996 for Frontiers of Heaven and again in 2001 for In the Empire of Genghis Khan .-Works:...
, Frontiers of Heaven: A Journey to the End of China - 1995, Gavin Bell, In Search of Tusitala: Travels in the Pacific After Robert Louis Stevenson
- 1994, William Dalrymple, City of DjinnsCity of DjinnsCity of Djinns is a travelogue by William Dalrymple about the historical capital of India, Delhi. It is his second book, and culminated as a result of his six-year stay in New Delhi....
- 1993, Nick Cohn, The Heart of the World
- 1992, Norman Lewis, A Goddess in the Stones: Travels in India
- 1991, co-winners:
- Jonathan RabanJonathan RabanJonathan Raban is a British travel writer and novelist. He has received several awards, such as the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Royal Society of Literature's Heinemann Award, the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, the PEN West Creative Nonfiction Award, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers...
, Hunting Mister Heartbreak: A Discovery of AmericaHunting Mister Heartbreak: A Discovery of AmericaHunting Mister Heartbreak: A Discovery of America is a travelogue of Jonathan Raban's personal rediscovery of America following in the footsteps of European immigrants. It won the 1991 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.-Introduction:... - Gavin YoungGavin YoungGavin David Young was born in Bude, Cornwall, England. His father, Gavin Young, was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Welsh Guards. Daphne, his mother, was the daughter of Sir Charles Leolin Forestier-Walker, Bt, of Monmouthshire. Young spent most of his youth in Cornwall and South Wales...
, In Search of Conrad
- Jonathan Raban
- 1990, Mark HudsonMark Hudson (author)Mark Hudson is a multiple-award-winning British writer, journalist and critic, whose books have been described as exploring the boundaries between fiction and travel writing.-Biography:...
, Our Grandmothers’ Drums - 1989, Paul TherouxPaul TherouxPaul Edward Theroux is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best known work of travel writing is perhaps The Great Railway Bazaar . He has also published numerous works of fiction, some of which were made into feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his...
, Riding the Iron RoosterRiding The Iron RoosterRiding the Iron Rooster is a travel book by Paul Theroux primarily about his travels through China in the 1980s. One of his aims is to disprove the Chinese maxim, "you can always fool a foreigner". It won the 1989 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.... - 1988, Colin ThubronColin ThubronColin Gerald Dryden Thubron, CBE is a British travel writer and novelist.In 2008, The Times ranked him 45th on their list of the 50 greatest postwar British writers. He is a contributor to The New York Review of Books, The Times, The Times Literary Supplement and The New York Times. His books...
, Behind the Wall: A Journey Through China - 1986/87, Patrick Leigh FermorPatrick Leigh FermorSir Patrick "Paddy" Michael Leigh Fermor, DSO, OBE was a British author, scholar and soldier, who played a prominent role behind the lines in the Cretan resistance during World War II. He was widely regarded as "Britain's greatest living travel writer", with books including his classic A Time of...
, Between the Woods & the Water - 1985, Patrick MarnhamPatrick MarnhamPatrick Marnham is an English writer, journalist and biographer. He is primarily known for his biographies, where he has covered subjects as diverse as Diego Rivera, Georges Simenon, Jean Moulin and Mary Wesley. As a journalist, he has written for Private Eye, The Independent and The Spectator...
, So Far From God: Journey to Central America - 1984, Geoffrey MoorhouseGeoffrey MoorhouseGeoffrey Moorhouse, FRGS, FRSL, D.Litt was an English journalist and author. He was born Geoffrey Heald in Bolton and took his stepfather's surname. He attended Bury Grammar School. He began writing as a journalist on the Bolton Evening News...
, To The Frontier - 1983, Vikram SethVikram SethVikram Seth is an Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist.-Early life:Vikram Seth was born on 20 June 1952 to Leila and Prem Seth in Calcutta...
, From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet - 1982, Tim SeverinTim SeverinTim Severin is a British explorer, historian and writer. Severin is noted for his work in retracing the legendary journeys of historical figures. Severin was awarded both the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society...
, The Sinbad Voyage - 1981, Jonathan RabanJonathan RabanJonathan Raban is a British travel writer and novelist. He has received several awards, such as the National Book Critics Circle Award, The Royal Society of Literature's Heinemann Award, the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, the PEN West Creative Nonfiction Award, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers...
, Old Glory: An American VoyageOld Glory: An American VoyageOld Glory is a travel book by Jonathan Raban. It is the winner of The Royal Society of Literature's Heinemann Award and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.- Plot summary :... - 1980, Robyn DavidsonRobyn DavidsonRobyn Davidson is an Australian writer best known for her book Tracks, about a 1,700-mile trek across the deserts of west Australia using camels. Her career of travelling and writing about her travels has spanned over 30 years....
, Tracks