Dolman Travel Book of the Year

The Dolman Travel Book of the Year award is one of only two awards for travel writing in the UK. It began back in 2006 and is organised by The Authors' Guild. It is the only travel award open to all authors.

The prize is award in July, with a shortlist announced in June and a long list in May. Ahead of the 2012 long list announcement, and for a record of history I thought I'd post the shortlists since the award launched, as there doesn't seem to be a record of this award yet on LT.

So kicking off with 2006:

Winner
The Prester Quest by Nicholas Jubber

Shortlist
The Ice Museum by Joanna Kavenna
Tigers in Red Weather: A Quest for the Last Wild Tigers by Ruth Padel
In the Time of Madness by Richard Lloyd Parry
Pedalling to Hawaii by Stevie Smith

Next 2007:

Winner
Last Seen in Lhasa by Claire Scobie

Shortlist
Nobody Told Us We Are Defeated by Rory McCarthy
Great British Bus Journeys by David McKie
Thumbs Up Australia: Hitchhiking the Outback by Tom Parry

2008:

Winner
92 Acharnon Street by John Lucas

Shortlist
Blood River by Tim Butcher
Misadventure in the Middle East by Henry Hemming
The Wild Places by Robert Macfarlane
In Search of Kazakhstan: The Land that Disappeared by Christopher Robbins

2009:

Winner
Empires of the Indus by Alice Albinia

Shortlist
Fishing in Utopia by Andrew Brown
Bandit Roads by Richard Grant
Street Without a Name by Kapka Kassabova
Travels of the Dance Floor by Grevel Lindop
The Island That Dared by Dervla Murphy

2010:

Winner
The Dead Yard by Ian Thomson

Shortlist:
Along the Enchanted Way by William Blacker
A Single Swallow by Horatio Clare
Eleven Minutes Late: A Train Journey to the Soul of Britain by Matthew Engel
Out of Steppe by Daniel Metcalfe
Lost and Found in Russia by Susan Richards
Tequila Oil: Getting Lost in Mexico by Hugh Thomson

And finally last year, 2011:

Winner
Molotov’s Magic Lantern: A Journey in Russian History by Rachel Polonsky

Shortlist:
Drinking Arak off an Ayatollah's Beard: A Journey Through the Inside-Out Worlds of Iran and Afghanistan by Nicholas Jubber
Dreaming in Hindi: Coming Awake in Another Language by Katherine Russell Rich
Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris by Graham Robb
The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe by Douglas Rogers
Germania: In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and Their History by Simon Winder

I posted the history of the Dolman Prize for Travel Book of the year a few months ago. Now the long list for the 2012 prize has been revealed. The books in contention this year are:

Harlem is Nowhere by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts
On Extinction by Melanie Challenger
Street Fight in Naples by Peter Robb
The Fetish Room: The Education of a Naturalist by Rudi Rotthier
Thin Paths: Journeys in and around an Italian Village by Julia Blackburn
To a Mountain in Tibet by Colin Thubron
To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface by Olivia Laing
White Fever by Jacek Hugo-Bader
Wild Coast by John Gimlette

One well known travel writer in the list (Colin Thubron), and another that has been up for other prizes (Thin Paths was shortlisted for the Costa Biography award).

Thanks for posting this list, geocroc. The only book I own from this list is Harlem Is Nowhere, which was rather mediocre IMO.

The shortlist for the 2012 Dolman Prize has now been announced. However, it only narrows the longlist down by three books, so hardly seems worth it! However the annoucment does reveal why there are six books:

"Traditionally the Dolman Travel Book of the Year shortlist is limited to 5 entries, but this year there was an unresolvable dispute between two of the titles, and so it was agreed to feature an additional 6th."

The six books vying for the title are:

Harlem is Nowhere by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts
Thin Paths by Julia Blackburn
To A Mountain in Tibet by Colin Thubron
To The River by Olivia Laing
White Fever by Jacek Hugo-Bader
Wild Coast by John Gimlette

Winner announced on September 5th.

The 2012 Dolman Travel Book of the Year was goes to Wild Coast by John Gimlette.

The Dolman Travel Book Award shortlist for 2013 has now been announced by the Author's Club. The winner to be announced on the 24 September. The shortlist is:

Looking For Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa
Meander: East to West Along a Turkish River by Jeremy Seal
Sightlines by Kathleen Jamie
The Golden Door: Letters to America by A.A. Gill
The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot by Robert Macfarlane
The Robber of Memories: A River Journey Through Colombia by Michael Jacobs

I'm glad to see the Robert Macfarlane book on the list. Really enjoyed reading this, although I did so over a year ago now! I've also got a copy of Sightlines which I should get around to reading.

Thanks for posting this shortlist, geocroc. I own Looking for Transwonderland, but I haven't read it yet; I'm unfamiliar with the other titles.

I'm a bit late in updating this, but finally adding details of who won the 2013 Dolman Travel Book Award. In the end the prize was award equally to two books. The judges were reported to be drawn equally on two of the books and after four hours of debate amongst them, they agreed to spilt the prize and award to both authors. This is the first time the Dolman has been award to two books in this manner.

And the winners? They were Sightlines by Kathleen Jamie and The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot by Robert Macfarlane. By chance the two books I myself have read, and both were excellent.

SYLVAIN TESSON WINS DOLMAN BEST TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

The 2014 Dolman Award for the best book of travel literature has been awarded to Sylvain Tesson for Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin in the Middle Taiga.

The £2,500 prize was presented by the Chair of Judges, Barnaby Rogerson, at a reception at Waterstones Piccadilly on Tuesday 30 September. It was accepted on the author’s behalf by his publisher, Alexis Kirschbaum, as the author was recuperating from a climbing accident from which he is now expected to make a full recovery.

Consolations of the Forest tells how Tesson exiled himself to a cabin on Siberia’s Lake Baikal, a day’s hike from any neighbour, with just his books, a couple of dogs and many bottles of vodka for company.



This year’s shortlist of six was an exceptionally strong one:



The Last Man in Russia, by Oliver Bullough

The Broken Road, by Patrick Leigh Fermor

Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain, by Charlotte Higgins

American Smoke, by Iain Sinclair

Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin in the Middle Taiga, by Sylvain Tesson

O My America! By Sara Wheeler (Jonathan Cape)

http://www.authorsclub.co.uk/?page_id=659

Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year
Shortlist 2015


The Land Where Lemons Grow, Helena Attlee

Down to the Sea in Ships: Of Ageless Oceans and Modern Men, Horatio Clare

Walking the Woods and the Water: In Patrick Leigh Fermor’s footsteps from the Hook of Holland to the Golden Horn, Nick Hunt

Rising Ground: A Search for the Spirit of Place, Philip Marsden

A Journey Into Russia, Jens Mühling

Indonesia Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation, Elizabeth Pisani

and the winner was

Down to the Sea in Ships: Of Ageless Oceans and Modern Men, Horatio Clare

Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year (now Edward Stanford)
Shortlist 2016

Deep South by Paul Theroux
Interstate: Hitchhiking Through the State of a Nation by Julian Sayarer
Squirrel Pie (and other stories): Adventures in Food Across the Globe by Elisabeth Luard
Station To Station: Searching for Stories On The Great Western Line by James Attlee
The Hills of Wales by Jim Perrin
White Sands: Experiences from the Outside World by Geoff Dyer

Julian Sayarer's book Interstate: Hitch Hiking Through the State of a Nation (Arcadia), documenting his American road trip from New York to San Francisco, has been named Travel Book of the Year at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards.

Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year Award

Border by Kapka Kassabova