Granta 26

Five years ago, Granta published 'Travel Writing'. Five years ago there was a travel writing revival, and the revival continues today. There are hundreds of magazines of travel writing; there are television and radio programmes; there are publishers devoted exclusively to it - and Granta's first issue has been reprinted eleven times. What kind of writing do travel writers write now? What, after a five-year revival, is travel writing? How long can the exotic remain exotic? Five years ago, the most influential travel writer was the one who showed that the best travel writing is not about the exotic or travel at all, but, borrowing from history and fact and the imagination, about something else entirely. His name is Bruce Chatwin. 'Travel' is dedicated to his memory.