An Inconvenience of Penguins

Lafferty writes brilliantly on penguins and the experience of seeing them in thrilling landscapes. * TLS *Come for the candid travelogue, woven with tales of early polar exploration, stay for the lush photos, and likely leave with a penguin passion of your own. * National Geographic Traveller *Humorous, touching and refreshingly unsentimental * Colin Thubron, author of SHADOW OF THE SILK ROAD *Perched at the edges of our human world, penguins now find themselves at the front line in the emergency we humans have launched upon them. Jamie Laffery’s epic adventures in search of these charismatic avians is highly entertaining and gloriously obsessional in equal degrees. A very enjoyable read. * Philip Hoare, author of LEVIATHAN *Travel writer turned global birder Jamie Lafferty embarks on an epic quest - in which the journey is at least as entertaining as the end result. * Stephen Moss, author of TEN BIRDS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD *Fascinating and funny, this book - unlike its charismatic subject - wonderfully takes flight. * Peter Ross, author of STEEPLE CHASING *Jamie Lafferty has written a kind of Antarctic ‘Roughing It’–a wise, rude, hilarious and oddly moving account of the author’s unusual quest to see all eighteen species of penguin. Like several of the birds he writes about, real travel writers are critically endangered. ‘An Inconvenience of Penguins’ proves they are not extinct. * Ed Caesar, author of THE MOTH AND THE MOUNTAIN *Jamie Lafferty is undoubtedly one of the best travel writers in the English language today: this brilliant debut is both a mad quest and fantastically original memoir. It reveals, in glorious technicolour, so much about these little black and white birds. * Oliver Smith, author of ON THIS HOLY ISLAND *A brilliantly vivid, ice-blasted account of one travel-writer’s determination to see all 18 species of penguin. Jamie is funny, bluntly truthful and so skilled in making us feel as if we’re there among the fluffy Adélie chicks. Bombastic, adventurous fun. * Lizzie Pook, author of MAUDE HORTON’S GLORIOUS REVENGE *Every page has lyrical and witty words about travel, penguins and penguin people. I’ve read many books about penguins, this is the best! * Nigel Marven, wildlife filmmaker *Came here for the penguins; stayed for the stories of their fried eggs, gossip about the love lives of Antarctic explorers, etymological trivia and witty footnotes. An eclectic and delightful whirlwind of a book. * Joanna Bagniewska, author of THE MODERN BESTIARY *Laugh-out-loud funny … his quest clearly brought him a measure of joy, and his account of it - always engaging and surprisingly full of emotional ups and downs for a book about birds - will bring joy to countless others. * Scotsman *Lafferty has not only picked a winning subject, but in this well-written, widely-researched account, he has done justice to the mix of comedic joy and awe-inspiring lifestyles … the writer’s droll sense of humour is much in service. * Country Life *Refreshingly free of travel-writing cliches … a terrific read. * Spectator *Eco-aware travel writing at its most entertaining. * Sydney Morning Herald *Lafferty writes brilliantly on penguins and the experience of seeing them in thrilling landscapes. * TLS *

Jamie Lafferty is a regular contributor to the Sunday Times, Financial Times, and National Geographic Traveller. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Telegraph, and BBC Travel. He has been nominated for over twenty awards in the travel writing industry, winning Travel Writer of the Year at the Travel Media Awards in 2020 and Specialist Travel Writer of the Year at the TravMedia Awards in April 2023. When he’s not travelling, he lives in Glasgow.

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