17 August 2010 - The British Guild of Travel Writers (BGTW) has teamed up with The Travel Bookshop in London's Notting Hill to hold the first BGTW Festival of Travel Writing from 9-18 September. The festival, which it is hoped will become an annual event, has been launched to celebrate the Guild's 50th anniversary.

Evening Talks

Some of Britain's top travel writers will share their experiences with the shop's customers during a free series of evening talks (7pm-8.15pm):

• Thursday 9 September - Write on Track - Adventures in train travel
• Wednesday 15 September - DIY -Starting up as a publisher
• Thursday 16 September - "Chick Flit" - Three fabulous women take very different approaches to writing travelogue.

Holiday Planning Day

On Saturday 18 September guidebook writers will be on hand all day (11am-5pm) to help customers with their holiday planning. There will also be a prize draw and five lucky customers will receive a goody bag containing Bradt guides and free passes to the Luxury Travel Fair, which takes place from 4-7 November at Olympia, courtesy of Clarion Events.

Melissa Shales, Chairman of the British Guild of Travel Writers, said: "Guild members are responsible for much of the best travel writing in guidebooks, newspapers, magazines and online across the English-speaking world. However, because so much of it is sold by brand they don't always get the credit they deserve.

"In our 50th anniversary year I am delighted that with our first BGTW Festival of Travel Writing, we are working to showcase the enormous expertise and talent of our members in the perfect venue - a shop that is truly in love with the best of travel writing."

Saara Marchadour, Manager of The Travel Bookshop added: "We are very happy to be hosting the Guild's first Festival of Travel Writing. It's not often that members of the public get the opportunity to meet professional travel writers, many of whose books can be found on our shelves. The events are a must-see for anyone who loves travelling or wants to be a travel writer."

The Travel Bookshop is at 13-15 Blenheim Crescent, Notting Hill, London W11 2EE and is open from 10am-6pm Mon-Sat and 12-5pm on Sun. For further details about the BGTW Festival of Travel Writing or to book a place (tickets are free, places are limited) call 0207 229 5260, email  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or see www.thetravelbookshop.com.

For further details about the British Guild of Travel Writers see www.bgtw.org.uk.

ENDS

NOTE TO EDITORS:

FESTIVAL OF TRAVEL WRITING PROGRAMME

Thursday 9 September Write on Track

Melissa Shales, Chairman of the British Guild of Travel Writers, was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Fund fellowship in 2009 to travel from Cape Town to Cairo to document the history of Africa's railways. She'll be discussing her forthcoming book, Steel Safari - How the Railways Made Modern Africa, and the process of writing.

Anthony Lambert has travelled by train in 45 countries and contributed to Time Out's Great Train Journeys of the World. He'll be extolling the joys of train travel, especially through Switzerland's dramatic landscape.

Inspired by Agatha Christie's journey in 1928, Andrew Eames travelled from London to Baghdad by train just before the start of the Iraq War. The result was a book - The 8.55 to Baghdad. He'll be talking about how train travel makes a ready-made structure for a travel narrative book.

Wednesday 15 September DIY Publishing

Hilary Bradt MBE is the co-founder of Bradt Travel Guides. She was awarded an MBE in 2008 for Services to the Tourist Industry and to Charity and in 2009 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Guild of Travel Writers. Her talk is a must-see for anyone interested in publishing his/her own guidebooks.

Catherine Beattie has a job most women can only dream of - visiting spas around the world. The former health writer was founding editor of Spa Health & Beauty and now edits and publishes www.spawellbeing.com as well as owning a small book publishing company, Discovery Books.

Thursday 16 September "Chick Flit"

The author of five narrative travel books, Polly Evans is built in the mould of an eccentric Victorian traveller. Her amusing adventures have taken her through the frozen depths of the Yukon behind a pack of huskies and around New Zealand on a motorbike in search of 'the real Kiwi bloke'. Polly will read from some of her books and talk about her writing process.

Rosemary Bailey relocated to the French Pyrenees with her husband and son in the 1990s, a move that went on to spawn three travel narrative books about the region and its inhabitants. She'll be discussing how a sense of place inspires her writing.

As well as being a travel journalist and radio and TV producer and presenter, Sarah Tucker is also a chick-lit novelist. If you want to know how to turn your travel experiences into a best-selling fictional novel, this is the talk to attend.

Saturday 18 September Holiday Planning - Consult the Experts

Guild members have written travel guides for all the major guidebook publishers including Bradt, Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, Frommer's, Michelin, the AA, Dorling Kindersley, Thomas Cook, Berlitz and many others. The Guild's guidebook writers will be on hand throughout the day from 11am to 5pm to give advice to customers on holiday planning. There will be short talks on different destinations throughout the day. Details will be posted on the Guild and Travel Bookshop websites.

For further details about the BGTW Festival of Travel Writing or the British Guild of Travel Writers please contact Victoria Trott on 07989 987867 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

ENDS