In 2015, writer Rebecca Lowe, driven by a desire to understand the Middle East and Islam, set off an 11,000km bike ride from London, through Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan and the Gulf, to Iran. ISIS was at its height. Her mother begged her not to go. Her fascinating journey is recounted in her recently published book, The Slow Road to Tehran: A Revelatory Bike Ride through Europe and the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Tharik Hussain’s travels through Muslim European lands (Western Balkans) with his wife and young daughters are the subject of his critically acclaimed travelogue, Minarets in the Mountains: A Journey into Muslim Europe. As he explores a region home to three Muslim European countries and the largest indigenous Muslim population on the continent, where Islam has shaped places and people for more than half a millennium, he also unpicks the reasons Europe struggles to embrace its Muslim self.
The authors come together in this special event to discuss the books their journeys produced, offering insights into a disappearing cultural heritage and the effects of conflict and political turmoil on regions steeped in history.
Join us for a contemporary look at travel and travel writing on a journey through Muslim lands.