Colin Thubron
Colin Gerald Dryden Thubron (born 14 June 1939) is a British travel writer and novelist. In 2008, The Times ranked him among the 50 greatest postwar British writers. He is a contributor to The New York Review of Books, The Times, The Times Literary Supplement and The New York Times.
Also recorded as Colin Gerald Dryden Thubron
Colin Thubron

colinthubron (Hampsterone at en.wikipedia) · Hampsterone at en.wikipedia · I (Hampsterone (talk)) created this work entirely by myself. · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Born
- 1939. · London.
- Nationality
- United Kingdom.
- Occupation
- writer, novelist and film director.
- Education
- Eton College.
- Honours
- Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Mungo Park Medal, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Hawthornden Prize.
- Languages
- English.
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Documentary summary
Colin Gerald Dryden Thubron (born 14 June 1939) is a British travel writer and novelist. In 2008, The Times ranked him among the 50 greatest postwar British writers. He is a contributor to The New York Review of Books, The Times, The Times Literary Supplement and The New York Times.
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Colin Thubron (born 1939) is a British film director, novelist and writer. The film director was born in London.
Colin Thubron studied at Eton College. The film director is a member of Royal Society of Literature and held the position of Booker Prize judge. Colin Thubron lived in London.
Languages used include English. The film director received Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Hawthornden Prize, among others.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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Authority files
wikidata · Q1108739 · wikipedia · Colin Thubron
In this article
Early years
Early years
His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. Thubron was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2007 New Year Honours. He is a Fellow and, between 2009 and 2017, was President of the Royal Society of Literature.
Colin Thubron studied at Eton College. The recorded working language is English. Residence is recorded at London. Positions recorded include Booker Prize judge. Distinctions recorded are Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Mungo Park Medal, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Hawthornden Prize.
Thubron is the son of Brigadier Gerald Thubron and of Evelyn (née Dryden), a collateral descendant of the poet John Dryden and of Samuel Morse, inventor of the Morse Code. Thubron was born in London, England, and was educated at Eton College. Before becoming a writer, he worked for five years in publishing in London and New York City, and made independent documentary films that were shown on BBC television. He is married to the Shakespeare scholar Margreta de Grazia.
The Middle East
The Middle East
Thubron's first travel book, Mirror to Damascus, was published in 1967, the first such book on the city for a century. It was followed the next year by The Hills of Adonis: A Quest in Lebanon, a lyrical account of a journey through the country, pre-civil war, and the next year by Jerusalem. While starting a parallel career as a novelist, he completed a travel book on Cyprus, Journey into Cyprus, in 1974, just before Turkey invaded the island.
Russia and the Far East
Russia and the Far East
In 1981, during the Brezhnev era, Thubron broke with his earlier work (on cities and small countries) and travelled by car into the Soviet Union, a journey recorded in Among the Russians. This was followed in 1987 by Behind the Wall: A Journey Through China (winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award), and in 1994 by The Lost Heart of Asia, the record of a journey through the newly independent nations of Central Asia. In 1999, his book In Siberia (Prix Bouvier, France), an exploration of the farthest reaches of the ex-Soviet Union, was published. In an episode of the BBC Radio 4 programme Bookclub in 2018, Thubron discussed the book with the presenter James Naughtie and answered questions from the audience. His 2007 book Shadow of the Silk Road describes a 7,000-mile journey from China to the Mediterranean encompassing cultures in which Thubron has been particularly interested: Islam, China, the former Soviet Union, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. His latest work is The Amur River: Between Russia and China (2021).
Writing
Writing
Most of Thubron's novels are notably different from his travel books. Several describe settings of enforced immobility: a psychiatric hospital, a prison, an amnesiac's mind. Notable among them are Emperor (1978), a study of the conversion of Constantine, A Cruel Madness (winner of the PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award), and Falling (1989). Others, however, use travel or a fictional abroad: Turning Back the Sun (1991) and an imaginary journey to Vilcabamba, Peru, in To the Last City (2002), long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. It has been described as a "Heart of Darkness narrative" in a "Marquezian setting". His 2016 novel, Night of Fire, is his most ambitious yet: a multi-layered study of time and memory, which several reviewers named his masterpiece. Thubron says that he was influenced by Palgrave's Golden Treasury as a schoolboy, and was initially inspired by the travel writing of Patrick Leigh Fermor, Jan Morris and Freya Stark. Thubron admires the English novelist William Golding and chose Victor Gollancz's anthology A Year of Grace (1950) as his book for Desert Island Discs.
Travel writing
Travel writing
Mirror to Damascus – Heinemann, 1967 The Hills of Adonis: A Quest in Lebanon – Heinemann, 1968 Jerusalem – Heinemann, 1969 Journey into Cyprus – Heinemann, 1975 Jerusalem – Time-Life, 1976 Istanbul – Time-Life, 1978 The Venetians – Time-Life, 1980 The Ancient Mariners – Time-Life, 1981 The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden – Hamish Hamilton, 1982 Among the Russians – Heinemann, 1983 Where Nights Are Longest: Travels by Car Through Western Russia – Atlantic Monthly Press, 1984 Behind the Wall: A Journey through China – Heinemann, 1987 The Silk Road: Beyond the Celestial Kingdom – Simon & Schuster, 1989 The Lost Heart of Asia – Heinemann, 1994 In Siberia – Chatto & Windus, 1999 Shadow of the Silk Road, Chatto & Windus, 2006 To a Mountain in Tibet, Chatto & Windus, 2011 The Amur River: Between Russia and China, Chatto & Windus, 2021 Forewords: Views from Abroad: The Spectator Book of Travel Writing, edited by Philip Marsden-Smedley & Jeffrey Klinke – Grafton, 1988 The Lycian Shore by Freya Stark – John Murray, 2002 The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron – Penguin, 2007 Stalin's Nose – by Rory MacLean – Tauris Parke, 2008 The Travels of Marco Polo – Everyman, 2008 Art, Life and Everything - by Julie Umerle - Susak Press, 2019
Novels
Novels
The God in the Mountain - Heinemann, 1977 Emperor – Heinemann, 1978 A Cruel Madness – Heinemann, 1984 Falling – Heinemann, 1989 Turning Back the Sun – Heinemann, 1991 Distance – Heinemann, 1996 To the Last City – Chatto & Windus, 2002 Night of Fire - Chatto & Windus, 2016
Radio adaptations, stage and television
Radio adaptations, stage and television
Emperor - BBC Radio 4, September 1984, with Martin Jarvis as Constantine and Juliet Stevenson as Fausta. Great Journeys: The Silk Road – BBC 2 Television, presenter, 1989 The Prince of the Pagodas - ballet scenario, the Royal Opera House, 1989, choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan A Cruel Madness – BBC Radio 4, May 1992, with Robert Glenister as Pashley and Harriet Walter as Sophia The South Bank Show – Time seen as a Road, on Colin Thubron, ITV television, 1992
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Colin Thubron”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q1108739: Colin Thubron
Unverified · Wikidata
Prizes and awards
1967: Book Society Choice, Mirror to Damascus 1969: Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature 1985: PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award, A Cruel Madness 1988: Hawthornden Prize, Behind the Wall: A journey through China 1988: Thomas Cook Travel Book Award, Behind the Wall: A Journey through China 1991: Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society 2000: Mungo Park Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society 2001: Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs 2002: Hon.D Lit University of Warwick 2003–9: Vice-president, The Royal Society of Literature 2007: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), New Year's Honours 2008: Society of Authors Travel Award 2009–2017: President, The Royal Society of Literature 2010: Prix Bouvier, France, In Siberia 2011: Ness Award of the Royal Geographical Society 2014: International Prize, Spanish Geographical Society 2019: Edward Stanford Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing Award 2020: RSL Companion of Literature 2021: Lifetime Achievement Award, Premio Chatwin, Italy 2021: Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year: The Amur River: Between Russia and China 2023: Travel Book of the Year, Premio Chatwin, Italy: The Amur River
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Wagner, Erica. Colin Thubron: 'Life is in the detail'. The Guardian. 24 July 2016. 0261-3077.
- 2.The 50 greatest British writers since 1945. The Times. 5 January 2008.
- 3.Colin Thubron. The New York Review of Books.
- 4.The Royal Society of Literature.
- 5.WorldCat. Mirror to Damascus. 2010. 3876772.
- 6.Hawthornden Prize.
- 7.Thomas Cook Publishing.
- 8.https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/02/06/reviews/000206.06.Kalfust.htm/ In Siberia
- 9.Bookclub – In Siberia. BBC Radio 4. 7 January 2018.
- 10.https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/shadow-of-the-silk-road-by-colin-thubron-424971.html ,(Prix Bouvier, France), Independent review: Shadow of the Silk Road.
- 11.YouTube o6WChHpHu68 Shadow of the Silk Road .
- 12.http://www.librarything.com/bookaward/PEN/Macmillan%20Silver%20Pen%20Award Silver Pen Award.
- 13.McCrum, Robert. Back to the heart of darkness. The Guardian. 28 July 2002.
- 14.Colin Thubron interview: 'Travel has always been an addiction for me'. The Telegraph.
- 15.Wroe, Nicholas. On the road again. The Guardian. 9 September 2006.
- 16.Desert Island Discs archive BBC Radio – Desert Island Discs microsite.
- 17.RSGS - Royal Scottish Geographical Society.
- 18.http://www.rsaa.org.uk/awards/lawrence, Royal Society for Asian Affairs.
- 19.http://www2.Warwick.ac.uk/alumni/ouralumni/hongrads/all/, Warwick University
- 20."Colin Thubron : Prix Nicolas Bouvier 2010", Etonnants Voyageurs, Saint-Malo 2010.
- 21.Mansfield, Katie. Thubron wins top prize at Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards. The Bookseller. 1 March 2019.
- 22.Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards. Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2018 winners. February 28, 2019.
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