Each of these books, in a different way, encouraged me to travel; to move slowly, to listen to what people really wanted to say, to look carefully at the world around me, and to think about how I bring back stories in a meaningful way. I still re-read them occasionally and find that, as the years pass, they evoke different and new responses in me. As a writer, that’s probably about the best thing one could hope for.

Leon McCarron is an award-winning writer, broadcaster and explorer from Northern Ireland. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, the Geographical Society of Philadelphia's Explorer of the Year, and is known for long-distance expeditions and immersive multimedia storytelling. In the past decade he has travelled over 50,000km by human power, and is currently based in Iraq.

His latest work Wounded Tigris tells the story of the river Tigris, which is in danger. It has been the lifeblood of ancient Mesopotamia and modern Iraq, but geopolitics and climate change have left the birthplace of civilisation at risk of becoming uninhabitable. In 2021, adventurer Leon McCarron travelled by boat along the full length of the river, in search of hope. Click here to discover more