In a perfectly matched shortlisting, Nick Hunt – known for his acclaimed travel writing – has been shortlisted in the 2024 Edward Stanford Awards with his debut novel Red Smoking Mirror for the Viking Award for Fiction with a Sense of Place.
Nick has said: ‘I’m thrilled that Red Smoking Mirror has been shortlisted for this award. Stanfords has always been a literary home for me as a travel writer, and widening the scope of ‘travel’ to include fiction – and alternate history – pays tribute to the interesting overlaps between different genres. This novel is rooted in journeys I’ve made, so while it may be a fantasy it’s a kind of travel book too. Thanks, Stanfords, and congratulations to the other nominees!’
Stanfords have commented: ‘Congratulations again to all the fantastic authors that are shortlisted for the Edward Stanford Awards 2024. Thank you for your inspiring and relentless contribution to travel writing and beyond.’
Nick Hunt has written a trilogy of books about walking in Europe – Outlandish, Where the Wild Winds Are and Walking the Woods and the Water – two of which were shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year. His articles have appeared in the Guardian, Emergence, Resurgence & Ecologist, New Internationalist, Geographical and numerous other publications, and he works as co-director for the Dark Mountain Project. Red Smoking Mirror is his first novel and was praised by The Guardian as ‘a beautifully written evocation of a world that never was’ and ‘richly imagined’ and ‘brilliant’ by the Times Literary Supplement.
The winner will be announced in February 2024.