The former recipient of the Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing, Colin Thubron introduces his new book 'The Amur River'.
In his 80th year, Colin Thubron made a dramatic and ambitious journey along the 3000-mile river that divides China and Russia.
The Amur River is almost unknown. Yet it is the tenth longest river in the world, rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific. For 1,100 miles it forms the tense border between Russia and China. Haunted by the memory of land-grabs and unequal treaties, this is the most densely fortified frontier on earth.
'The Amur River' charts Thubron’s journey from the river’s secret source to its giant mouth, covering almost 3,000 miles. Harassed by injury and by arrest from the local police, he makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores, starting out by Mongolian horse, then hitchhiking, sailing on poacher's sloops or travelling the Trans-Siberian Express. Having revived his Russian and Mandarin, he talks to everyone he meets, from Chinese traders to Russian fishermen, from monks to indigenous peoples. By the time he reaches the river's desolate end, where Russia's nineteenth-century imperial dream petered out, a whole, pivotal world has come alive.
Offering a unique perspective of two of the world’s superpowers via the story of the Amur, 'The Amur River' is a shining masterpiece by the acknowledged laureate of travel writing, an urgent lesson in history and the culmination of an astonishing career.
Published by Chatto & Windus, Vintage available at Stanfords for £20:
www.stanfords.co.uk/The-Amur-...
Stanfords is delighted to welcome Colin Thubron to The Conduit in conversation with fellow Peter Frankopan on Thursday 30th September 2021.
For more information and tickets:
www.stanfords.co.uk/event-the...