To mark the publication of my new book on the contemporary Philippines, The Realm of the Publisher, Star & Crescent has published an excerpt from it about the country’s oldest bloodsport. With illustrations by Louis Netter. Read it here.
Buy the book here and come to the launch at the Eldon Building, University of Portsmouth on Tuesday 27th November from 7pm.
The Siege of Somerstown: Being a Portion of the Records of a General of the Fifth Hants Involuntary Air Rifles Concerning an Infantry Sortie on Behalf of the Crown and Portsmouth City Council’s Department of Colonial Warfare
After leading an infantry charge against the recalcitrant subjects of the Empire’s outer reach – or Somerstown to use the native designation – General Sir Eugene Nicks finds himself detained by the infamous headman known only as Kev. To survive he must depend on his wits, his courage and his enormous regulation moustache. Read it here.
We have a new, currently small but ever growing YouTube channel of never-before-seen videos from our research trip to Ivory Coast last summer. Click here for chickens escaping the jaws of crocodiles, wild monkeys jumping from roof to roof and some high-energy dancing during the animist Generations Festival.
My deepest thanks to Travel Africa Magazine for this generous review of The Bradt Guide to Ivory Coast:
‘With this guidebook, the author puts the largely unexplored Côte d’Ivoire back on the map, following a period of instability. As well as being a celebration of the country, the book also offers a lot of practical information and background that any potential traveller will find invaluable. Personal stories and anecdotes are intertwined throughout, which add some fascinating texture and observations.’
18th November 2016Blackwell’s in Portsmouth, Cambridge Road, Portsmouth, PO1 2EF
Other performers include Sarah Cheverton (Star & Crescent, Huffington Post) and Gareth Rees (reading from his latest book Read Rees). More TBA.
Just two weeks to go before the Ivory Coast book comes out and here’s me chatting about it alongside pictures by Mr Alexander Sebley.
Nice to see I’ve been quoted in this perceptive article by Piet van Niekerk about the future of travel guide publishing
My ‘Letter from Manila’ about Duterte, vigilante crime fighting and spectacularly un-PC jokes is in the next edition of Private Eye, if anyone’s remotely interested.
My travelogue for of the delightful Pagsanjan Falls in the Philippines is right here, right now on the Selamta site:
My story for New Statesman about Ivorian Rastafarians’ struggle for survival in the face of bigotry, violence and persecution is now free to view here.
