In 2026 come for a wander through some of the most notable works of travel writing in the English language on this curated travel writing course
In 1933 Patrick Leigh Fermor set out in the depths of winter to walk from Holland to Hungary (his actual destination was much further east than that!). He was on foot and slept in barns and castles on his way, and years later gave the world one of the greatest travel writing books ever written, A Time of Gifts.
We then turn to the Sea and Sardinia by D. H. Lawrence and get vivid glimpses of island life from a trip to Sardinia in 1921. Next to a very different group of European travellers on an island, this time in Thailand in the 1990s, in Alex Garland’s The Beach. And finally we move to a much harsher landscape, in Rory Stewart’s 36 day walk across Afghanistan in 2002, The Places In Between.
As usual what unites these narratives is an irrepresible wanderlust, and a consequent journey where the protagonist does not remain unchanged.
8 July – Introduction to the course
22 July – A Time of Gifts
5 August – The Sea and Sardinia
19 August – The Beach
26 August – The Places In Between
Wednesdays – 10.30am-midday at Girrawheen Library