Eight people came to Books & Books in the Grove last night to hear my conversation with the traveler and publisher Hilary Bradt. Admittedly, we had stiff competition: Sebastian Junger was over at the Gables store. But Hilary, a charming octogenarian, has also had an adventurous life, one that his included hitchhiking – as she told the audience – in every decade except the first. Her article about her most recent experience, in Germany, appeared in the Guardian.
After the event, over bowls of French onion soup at Le Bouchon, I told Hilary that travel writing is not as popular in the U.S. as it is in Britain. And not just Britain. She said she did an event in Belgium that 60 people attended. And 40 of them bought her book, which of course is written in a language not native to the country.
