The short list for the University of South Wales Prize for Travel Writing, which I mentioned in April, was announced this week. The three writers on it are: John Harrison, for The Rains of Titikaka; Nathan Llywelyn Munday, for Seven Days: A Pyrenean Trek; and Mandy Sutter, for Bush Meat: As My Mother Told Me. For details, and a video including readings from the three, see the awards website.

And the short list for “best travel books of all time written in English”? The three selected are Losing Israel by Jasmine Donahaye, Wildwood by Roger Deakin and A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor.