Destinations Show Travel Writers Festival 2025 - Manchester

A fascinating – and frequently funny – tale of one man cycling the breadth of America. Frustrated by the shallow headlines focusing only on Trump, guns and division, award-winning travel writer Simon Parker decided that to better understand the USA, he would have to travel across it, slowly.

Benedict Allen is an explorer and broadcaster best known for his hazardous expeditions through rainforest, desert and Arctic - journeys achieved without companions, phone, GPS or any of the usual backup. He talks to Andrew Dickens, sharing exclusive insights into his life as an explorer and broadcaster.

Journalist and broadcaster Louise Minchin has travelled a lot for work, but also while researching her non-fiction title Fearless, which detailed the lives of 17 extraordinary women, in places as diverse as Argentina, Finland and Alcatraz. Talking about this, and her new thriller, Isolation Island, set on a remote Scottish island, Louise discusses the delights and challenges of a working trip with Andrew Dickens.

From childhood, Charles Dickens was fascinated by tales from other countries and other cultures and he longed to see the world. Lucinda Hawksley talks to Andrew Dickens about the journeys made by her great great great grandfather in Europe, long before the arrival of high-speed rail, toured America (twice) and Canada and, before his untimely death, was planning a tour of Australia. 

Stuart Maconie is one of the keenest observers of English identity. Who better to take the temperature of the nation at this uncertain waymark on our national journey? He joins Andrew Dickens for a journey round Britain, talking about his latest book, The Full English.