500 Walks with Writers, Artists and Musicians

by Katherine Stathers (Editor)

Explore the diverse cultural and historical legacy of the world's greatest writers, artists and composers on foot.

This unique trans-continental culture trip around the world presents a series of inspiring walks, treks, and hikes that vary between easy one-hour strolls, half day trails, and multi-day expeditions for people who love a walking holiday and are looking for a more immersive experience. The book includes walks in easy to reach countryside areas, national parks, the wild, and the great cities of the world.  From an urban Street Art Walking Tour of East London to a traverse through the Georgian melting pot city of Tbilisi to a literary-themed Millennium Tour of Stieg Larsson’s Stockholm, Discover the World in 500 Walks with Writers, Artists & Musicians  has all the inspiration and information you need to plan your next walking adventure. 

954 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 16, 2021

Reviews

[Tripfiction]

Artists are inspired by what they see around them and convert their impressions into their chosen form of creative expression. This is an amalgam of places that have been the inspiration for artistic endeavour. In many ways this encapsulates the notion behind TripFiction, in that the contributors to this book have chosen a piece of work, checked the setting and then set that work in its physical context and made the experience available to readers of this book. The settings covered in the book are worldwide.

Literature is highlighted in yellow, art in pink and music in green, so for each geographical area you can choose your preferred category; selected highlights also have suggestions for essential reading, viewing or listening, respectively. I can certainly imagine walking with Otis Redding in Macon, Georgia (essential listening: Otis Blue: The Soul Album) or seeing Cape Cod through the eyes of Edward Hopper.

The first entry that caught my eye was Monterey, California, the setting for John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. The route that is suggested covers 29 kilometres, it isn’t overly specific but enables the reader to imbibe the setting which so inspired the author. Along the route there are suggested points of interest to look out for. Some highlights have specific maps to guide, others are more vague.

Donna Tartt’s The Secret History was one of those seminal reads that really stuck with me and you can certainly take a look at Bennington College which is the inspiration for fictional Hampden College in the novel. It has a memorable opener: “The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation”.

The book then progresses through Central and South America and then swiftly moves to Europe, where you can play at being Jane Austen in the lanes around her home in Hampshire, or visit the Brontës in Yorkshire. Then it is over to Northern Spain with Paul Coelho (The Pilgrimage) as he tramps the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, which led to his literary spiritual awakening (he was relatively unknown until this point). Over in Paris you can solve the mystery of The Da Vinci Code which takes you from the Ritz Hotel to the Louvre, a route that can be leisurely retraced by walkers, with a quick visit to see the Mona Lisa and Virgin of the Rocks, both central to the plot.

The artistic heritage in Germany is rich and gets a good look-in and then perhaps it’s time for a quick whizz down to Naples for a stroll around Elena Ferrante’s Naples. Off through Africa down to Durban and Lewis Nkosi’s Mating Birds (with a rather gorgeous cover) and on to Iran, Russia and Asia to name but just some of the destinations the contributors have chosen.

You may find yourself diverting to West Virigina for a bit of John Denver (don’t forget only a third of the book is devoted to literature) – should the fancy take you, or you can set off in pursuit of Frida Kahlo’s inspiration in Mexico City. Perhaps you might like to consider a bar hop through Havana with Hemingway…

This book is a rich whistle stop tour around the world, that will leave the reader quite breathless. The amount of research that has gone into this superbly presented book is quite staggering. It comprises bite sized pieces, real nuggets of information, with wonderful photographs. The compilation of 500 Walks is a significant accomplishment and in truth it is the tip of the cultural iceberg. It can thus feel a little crammed and overwhelming and I think it would have been helpful to differentiate more between the colours to represent literature and art, because in the some lights they were a little hard to distinguish.

It is, as always with this publisher, a beautifully produced tome.

[Gemma]

Such an interesting book, great colorful images and inspiring ideas for walks. Can't wait to experience some of the local walks in the book and also take it with me next time I'm on holiday.

[Erica Char]

The pictures were lovely and I liked the connection of people to places.

I was expecting a more… lyrical/story telling, walking adventure story vs. These are good walks to go on. But that’s entirely my fault.

[Megan]

A beautiful book, with interesting details on the lives of the featured artists, full of inspiration for walks all around the world. I often choose holiday destinations based on literary and cultural connections, so can’t wait until we can travel again to try some of them out!