American Travel Writer Paul Theroux Receives Top Royal Geographical Society Honors

     Joining a distinguished list of Royal Medal recipients, including Sir Edmund Hillary and Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, American travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux has been awarded the 2015 Patron's Medal by the Royal Geographical Society.  Approved by the Queen, the Royal Medal acknowledges the encouragement of geographical discovery through travel writing. 

     Though his best known work of travel writing is perhaps The Great Railway Bazaar (1975), he has published numerous works of fiction, some of which were made into feature films.  A bit of background: After moving to London in 1972, Theroux set off on an epic journey by train from Great Britain to Japan and back. His account of this journey was published as The Great Railway Bazaar, his first major success as a travel writer and now a classic in the genre.  He has since written a number of other travel books, including descriptions of traveling by train from Boston to Argentina (The Old Patagonia Express), walking around the United Kingdom (The Kingdom of the Sea), kayaking in the South Pacific (The Happy Isles of Oceania), visiting China (Riding the Iron Rooster) and traveling from Cairo to Cape Town (Dark Star Safari).
     As a traveler he is noted for his rich descriptions of people and places, laced with a heavy streak of irony, or even misanthropy. Other non-fiction by Theroux includes Sir Vidia's Shadow, an account of his personal and professional friendship with Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul that ended abruptly after 30 years.
Portions excerpted from Wikipedia

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