I wasn't able to attend last year's Boardman/Tasker award event at the Kendal Mountain Festival having been there for the last four years. However before Christmas I read the winning entry 'Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road' by Kate Harris and although I enjoyed reading about the journey it didn't strike me as a piece of Mountain Literature. This view was reinforced when a friend (with considerable understanding of Mountain writing) read it and commented that it was more of a travel story.
To quote from the B/T website: 'The Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature is awarded annually to the author or authors of the best literary work, whether fiction, non-fiction, drama or poetry, the central theme of which is concerned with the mountain environment.'
Does anyone share my reaction to this book or indeed can anyone explain to me why they believe that it is indeed a piece of Mountain literature.
Apologies in advance to those who think that my comments are a grumpy old man's response.
