A group of authors will come together to discuss Portsmouth as a place to visit and reflect on the realities of travel and place writing at local, national and international levels.
The discussion will be moderated by doctoral researcher and published environmental writer Rachel Birchley. Alongside readings from their own works, the speakers will consider how aspiring writers can develop travel writing skills and examine the role of the genre in an era shaped by rapid transportation, digital navigation, online reviews and personal travel blogs. They will also consider what aspects of Portsmouth continue to captivate and motivate writers.
The event, titled From Pompey to the Seven Seas, will include Portsmouth native Ben Aitken, acclaimed author of Sh*tty Breaks, The Gran Tour and Dear Bill Bryson. Ben received the Travel Writer of the Year award at the 2025 Travel Media Awards. Joining him is Tom Sykes, Associate Professor in Creative Writing and Global Journalism at the University of Portsmouth, whose publications include a guide to Ivory Coast, travel narratives examining the Philippines and England’s coastline, and The Years of Travelling Anxiously, an exploration of the relationship between travel and mental wellbeing.
Joining Tom and Ben will be Anne Paton-Cragg, whose fiction and travel writing have been influenced by experiences of living in Portsmouth, Sheffield, London, Paris, Helsinki and Singapore; Andy Hanlon, who has spent time both on small islands such as Guernsey and in larger nations including the United States, is the author of Masala & Other Mixes and Island Life; Richard Peirce, a well-travelled poet with published work inspired by visits across Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond; novelist and scholar Victoria Leslie, author of Skein and Bone and Bodies of Water; and planetary modeller David Angus, formerly of the BBC, whose writing draws on journeys to locations including Chernobyl, South Africa and the world’s largest cave system.
Organised by Icon Books in partnership with the Portsmouth literary organisation T’Articulation, From Pompey to the Seven Seas takes place in the Menuhin Room at Portsmouth Central Library at 6.30pm on Friday 10 July. Attendance is free, although advance booking is required through Eventbrite via the this link.
As an added bonus, every visitor will receive a complimentary book showcasing some of the finest recent travel writing inspired by Portsmouth.
Photograph by Moshe Tasky reproduced with the creator’s permission.
