In a programme recorded at the Birmingham Readers' and Writers' Festival, Humphrey Carpenter examines ways of writing about other cultures, from pieces in glossy magazines to the academic tome. Do men and women have different approaches to the art of travel writing? Is travel writing a form of amateur anthropology? Where do observation and anecdote blur with fiction? His guests include
Dea Birkett , whose Serpent in Paradise tells of her travels to Pitcairn Island, and Harrie Ritchie , author of The
Last Pink Bits, a journey through what remains of the British Empire. Producer Erika Wright
SOUNDING THE CENTURY