OUR ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Continuing the series in which the companies and organisations that
share our aims and values introduce themselves.
An imprint of
Bloomsbury Publishing,
Conway publishes
books that open up the
world through tales
of contemporary and
historical exploration
and adventure.
G
iven that we’ve been
publishing books about
sailing for the better part of
75 years – becoming the world’s
largest nautical publisher in the
process – in hindsight it’s actually
a surprise that it took us so long to
branch out into publishing books
about other outdoor activities. Now
it seems an obvious progression,
because sailing has a lot in
common with many other outdoor
pursuits: getting closer to nature,
renewing a sense of freedom,
indulging a thirst for adventure,
and chasing excitement or
relaxation – depending on where
the mood takes you.
We have none other than Ray
Mears to thank for expanding
our publishing horizons as well
as our literal ones. We originally
approached Ray to write the
Foreword for our defi nitive edition
of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.
He wrote a fi ne piece about how
the story has endured for 300 years
precisely because it taps into that
spirit of adventure that is in all
of us, even if many don’t pay it
enough heed. When Ray came back
to us with an intriguing proposal
for his latest book, diff erent from
anything he had ever written
before, we couldn’t resist – even
though it had nothing to do with
the sea.
That proposal became Out on the
Land, a beautifully photographed
journey into the Boreal forest of the
North to study and demonstrate
the traditional bushcraft skills of
the region that have survived and
thrived for centuries. The book
has proved a fantastic success
– but one book does not make a
publishing list. So we began our
search for more ideas that would
take both us and our readers
outside our comfort zones.
Other big successes that have
followed include Martin Dorey’s
The Camper Van Bible and his new
Take the Slow Road series. Martin
has made a lifestyle and a career
out of his camper van adventures,
and his inspirational writing is
enough to make anyone quietly
envious of his travels. Who needs a
hotel when you can drive your own
accommodation to your destination
and, if you fi nd a better spot en-
route, stay there instead?
You don’t need a camper
van to do that, of course, and
Stephen Neale’s two books for
us – Camping by the Waterside and
Wild Camping - are beautifully
written and sometimes provocative
celebrations of camping,
whether that’s on a stunning
site overlooking the sea with
watersports facilities in abundance,
or in a remote part of the
highlands, far from ‘civilisation’.
Along with Sian Lewis’ The Girl
Outdoors, Jen and Sim Benson’s The
Adventurer’s Guide to Britain and
the soon-to-be-published Days
Out Underground by Peter Naldrett,
ideas for fun outside the offi ce
are being happily fed by our work
indoors.
So where are we looking to go
next? The truth is we want authors
who can answer that question for
us. Whether the canvas is a tent or
a sail, and the engine is in a camper
van or on the back of a boat, if
someone wants to read a book
that will help
them pursue
their adventure,
we want to
publish it. And if
someone wants
to be the one
who writes that
book, we want to
hear from them.
www.bloomsbury.com/uk/non-fiction/travel-and-adventure
16 Outdoor focus | spring 2019