Travel writing with SOUL. Tom Parfitt and Oliver Smith
Schedule
Thu, 17 Oct, 2024 at 07:00 pm
Location
11-17 Castle Street, Norwich | Norwich, EN
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Join us for an adventurous evening at Waterstones Norwich with travel writers Oliver Smith and Tom Parfitt! Acclaimed travel writer Oliver Smith sets out to radically reframe our idea of ‘pilgrimage’ in Britain by retracing sacred travel made across time, from murmurs of ritual journeys in the depths of Ice Age to new pilgrimages of the 21st century.
He embarks on an epic adventure across sacred British landscapes – climbing into remote sea caves, sleeping inside Neolithic tombs, scaling forgotten holy mountains and once marooning himself at sea. Following holy roads to churches, cathedrals and standing stones, this evocative and enlightening travelogue explores places prehistoric, pagan and Christian, but also reveals how football stadiums and music festivals have become contemporary places of pilgrimage.
Emotionally scarred after witnessing the bloody climax of the Beslan school siege in Russia's North Caucasus, in which 314 hostages died, Tom Parfitt set out on a journey. In High Caucasus, he shares his remarkable thousand-mile quest in search of personal peace - and a greater understanding of the roots of violence in a region whose fate has tragic parallels with the Ukraine of today.
Starting in Sochi on the Black Sea and walking the mountains to Derbent, the ancient fortress city on the Caspian, Parfitt traverses the political, religious and ethnic fault-lines of seven Russian republics, including Chechnya and Dagestan. Through bear-haunted forests, across high altitude pastures and over the shoulders of Elbrus, Europe's highest mountain, he finds companionship and respite in the homes of proud, little-known peoples.
Tickets are £5 for General Admission (£4 for Waterstones Plus Cardholders). Book and ticket options include: £14 Admission and a copy of High Caucasus or £13 Admission and a copy of On This Holy Island.
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Where is it happening?
11-17 Castle Street, Norwich, United KingdomEvent Location & Nearby Stays: