“The Writers Journey” by Travis Elborough reads like a collection of Wikipedia articles. An encyclopedia of short biographies, this collection focuses on well-known authors. Notably absent from the collection are the world’s most famous authors C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.

I am a former school librarian, and I feel this book would be useful for middle school libraries. A good book for kids writing research papers or debating topics. The research is concise to accommodate many biographies. Many of the chapter titles are cute and whimsical. Yellow maps and historical photos help readers visualize these well-known authors. The list of biographies at the end of this book demonstrates the research involved in creating this collection. Educators will appreciate the concise chapters. Students will use the resource list to further explore one of the well-known authors.


I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Netgalley.

The Writer’s Journey is a guidebook of writers’ travels around the world and how their travel experiences shaped their writing and productivity while living away from their hometowns. As an author, I’m a firm believer of researching the writing process and experiences of other writers so I can implement some of their productivity in my work. One of the things I have not implemented is travel abroad and writing until completion.
The Writer’s Journey, such as the experience of James Baldwin, made me yearn to travel back to Paris and spend months writing a book while experiencing the culture and the people of that country. While I can’t do so presently, I will use this non-fiction book as inspiration to follow my goals of traveling to Paris and Turkey, among the other places that authors have spent time in.
Thank you to NetGalley, publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Writer's Journey: In the Footsteps of the Literary Greats is a selection of famous works and their authors alongside the description and details of the places that inspired them. There are beautiful maps and sumptuous descriptions and stories of how they produced their epics. It is imaginative and filled with fascinating insights. 35 journeys taken by these literary Greats are revealed and the details and effects these journeys had on their lives and the worlds' literary landscape are examined. You will be packing your suitcase wanting to explore these magical places for your self. Overall an insightful, imaginative and very interesting book.

I absolutely cannot wait to purchase a printed copy of this book. The maps were gorgeous and detailed; the stories of the writers' journeys included several surprises. Well-researched and a great gift for any literature lover.

All my life, I have read books written by famous or local authors. The one thing that always used to roam inside my mind was the question that how did they ever get inspired to write something beautiful and magnanimous like these. This book quenches that thirst incited by the question so deftly. To read about their journeys and the moments that inspired them soothes me and reassures me that that there's so much of this world we haven't experienced and that everyday and everyplace is luminous with inspirations.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, a book about books (or authors in this case) is a winning book for me. The collection of names Travis has brought together in this is amazing. There’s a real spread from Hans Christian Andersen to Jane Austin, Lewis Carroll to Arthur Conan Doyle, Herman Melville to JK Rowling.

It’s a fascinating look at the fantastic and the seemingly everyday places that have inspired some of the greatest works of all time.

As a Brit, I loved the inclusion of UK travel. It’s easy to talk lovingly about the hot climates and classic architecture of foreign lands, but a lot harder to speak about your homeland because for you, it’s just normal. But there’s a number of journeys through the UK and Ireland and its really refreshing and gave me little bits of information about my own country that I didn’t know.

There are some lovely maps in the book. I had an e-copy and so wasn’t sure if the maps would look quite like they should, but the majority did, a few went off the page. They’re big and bright and clear, not overly complicated, and really help you get a perspective of places. There’s also some great photos and pictures that link to the authors’ journeys which was a lovely touch.

There were a few formatting issues here and there but hopefully they’re ironed out in the final version, but it didn’t hinder the enjoyment.

It’s one of those books that you can dip in and out of. Leave it on the coffee table or the bedside table and read about a couple of authors and then return to it tomorrow. Or, if you’ll like me, you’ll get completely absorbed and plough through them all. Either way of reading works with this book.

There’s some fascinating things in this book, things I didn’t know and couldn’t be found by just googling their name. There’s some real in-depth, quite personal bits about the authors and that’s exciting, I’m ashamed to say there were some authors I’d never even heard of, and even more whose books I haven’t read, but I have definitely put them on my wish list,

I’m generally not one for travel writing reading - other than when I’m visiting a place - but the snippets he has chosen for these authors just make the world sound so gorgeous. I never thought people could write so perfectly about the smallest of things. I know the countries mentioned have changed, some unrecognisably, since these authors went, but it all sounds so inviting that I might just pick up some travel writing to read.

It has instantly made me want to travel somewhere, rent an isolated little cottage, and just write about my surroundings. It really prompts you to reconsider what’s around you and makes you look for inspiration in unlikely places.

This book’s author chose an appealing and interesting topic. Where do writers go, do these places offer inspiration and what are their journeys like?

This book features beautiful photos and content about the travels of everyone from Maya Angelou to Jane Austen; from Lewis Carroll to Agatha Christie; from Fitzgerald to Flaubert and so many more, ending (alphabetically) with Virginia Woolf.

I think that this book would make a wonderful gift for the holiday season. I would like to buy the hardcover copy for myself. Read it in order or just move directly to a favorite author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.

This book’s author chose an appealing and interesting topic. Where do writers go, do these places offer inspiration and what are their journeys like?

This book features beautiful photos and content about the travels of everyone from Maya Angelou to Jane Austen; from Lewis Carroll to Agatha Christie; from Fitzgerald to Flaubert and so many more, ending (alphabetically) with Virginia Woolf.

I think that this book would make a wonderful gift for the holiday season. I would like to buy the hardcover copy for myself. Read it in order or just move directly to a favorite author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.