This week has seen a quartet of successes for Bradt, with four of our authors – including our founder Hilary – receiving nominations for literary prizes!
Tharik Hussain
Minarets in the Mountains by Tharik Hussain has been longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction 2021. The top prize for non-fiction books in the UK, the award celebrates the best writing in history, politics, science, sport, travel and the arts.
Minarets in the Mountains has been described as “a magical, eye-opening account of a journey into a Europe that rarely makes the news and is in danger of being erased altogether” and sees Londoner Tharik set off with his wife and daughters around the Western Balkans, home to the largest indigenous Muslim population in Europe.
Tharik Hussain is an author and travel writer specialising in Muslim heritage in the western world. He has written for Lonely Planet, produced award-winning radio for the BBC and is the creator of Britain’s first Muslim Heritage Trails. He has been named one of the UK’s most inspiring British Bangladeshis, is a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers and is a Fellow at the University of Groningen’s Centre for Religion and Heritage.
Hilary Bradt
The Bradt Guide to Socotra, cowritten by our own Hilary Bradt and Janice Booth, has been shortlisted in the ‘Guide of the Year — Book, online, app’ category of the Travel Media Awards 2021. These awards are commonly recognised as the premier prize in the travel media sphere, open to all publications and individuals in the industry.
Described as “a much-needed guidebook” by founder of Lonely Planet Tony Wheeler, the book is the first and only guide on this UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Arabian Sea, 240 miles from mainland Yemen. The book provides accounts of capital Hadiboh, Ayhaft Canyon, Qaria lagoon, Rosh Marine Nature Sanctuary, Homhil Nature Sanctuary, Hoq Cave, Qalansiyah, Diksam, Firmihin Forest and more, and provides photo guides to the 11 endemic bird species and 307 endemic plant species found on ‘The Galapagos of the Indian Ocean’.
In 2008 Hilary was awarded an MBE for services to tourism and charity and has already been awarded the Travel Media Awards’ Special Contribution Award, in 2019. She is a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers. Janice Booth is a contributor to a number of our guides; she authored Rwanda and edited Mali.
Nori Jemil
Nori Jemil has been shortlisted in the Photography Award category, also in the Travel Media Awards. Nori has a book due out in October called The Travel Photographer’s Way.
This practical photography book considers not just how to get better images, but also why and when to take them. It guides you to becoming a more confident and reflective travel photographer, as well as covering all the technical know-how needed – but the book is also a a travel companion. It covers the main elements of travel photography in twelve sections, including advice from some of the best travel photographers working around the world.
Nori Jemil is an award-winning photographer, writer, teacher and videographer. Her work has appeared in National Geographic Traveller, BBC Travel, Adventure.com and Conde Nast Traveller. Over the past decade she has won numerous awards, including Travel Photograph of the Year from Wanderlust travel magazine, and Travel Photographer of the Year from the British Guild of Travel Writers.
Bex Band
Three Stripes South by Bex Band is one of three finalists in the Shextreme Non-Fiction Book Award 2021. Shextreme, founded as the world’s first film festival celebrating women in extreme sports and adventure, has grown to also celebrate women writing about adventure and has launched a network for female media makers.
In 2016, Bex Band decided to walk the length of Israel with her husband: a 1000km trek including a dangerous crossing through the Negev desert. Three Stripes South tells the story of this transformative adventure – battling heat, exhaustion, self-doubt and prejudice – and the new life Bex built for herself when she got home.
Bex Band is a full-time adventurer and conservationist. She founded the UK’s largest women’s adventure community, Love Her Wild and her previous adventures include kick-scooting the length of the USA and kayaking the width of the UK against plastic pollution. She was shortlisted for a National Diversity Award in 2018.
