Self-confessed map addict and occasional stand-up comic Mike Parker, and former BBC Wales arts and media correspondent Jon Gower in conversation.
Jon’s latest book is The Turning Tide: A Biography of the Irish Sea, an immersive history of a pivotal stretch of water.
Described by Roddy Doyle as ‘fascinating, spellbinding, erudite and great fun,’ The Turning Tide is a hymn to a sea passage of world-historical importance. The novelist Cynan Jones considers it ‘Contagious with delight and fascination. The seeming informality, the twinkle-in-the-eye in the telling, the gentle provocation make it a joy to read. Jon’s perhaps brought into being a new class of book, for it’s nothing if not a “Racontography.”’
Mike’s latest book, All the Wide Border is a funny, warm and timely meditation on identity and belonging, following the scenic route along the England–Wales border: Britain’s deepest fault-line.
All the Wide Border is a personal journey through the places, amongst the people, and across the divides of the border between England and Wales. Taking in some of our loveliest landscapes, and our darkest secrets, this is a region of immeasurable wonder and interest.
Reading it, the writer John Sam Jones “was often overcome by ‘fierce wonder’; there’s geography and topography enough to orientate and surprise; there’s history enough to fascinate but not to fog the senses; there are anecdotes that brought belly laughs and tears. Fine writing indeed.”
