Alastair Humphreys' Great Adventurers by Alastair Humphreys

This must have been deeply irritating for poor Kevin. So I couldn’t really describe what I wanted to be drawn. But the part that I found hard as a writer and as selector of the adventures was trying to convey the adventures that I love and know so well in a visual form. It certainly is true that the illustrator, Kevin Ward, bore the brunt of the hard work of bringing this book to life. I did think it would be easy! Because there are hardly any words I thought I could rattle them out over a cup of tea and then leave the artist to get on and do all the hard work. What was difficult? And how did you ensure that the book would have bags of appeal and inspiration for the intended young audience? You mention that you had naively thought writing an illustrated book for children would be easy, and that you were wrong.

I also wanted to reflect the history of the climbing of Everest through the local people who make it all possible and therefore chose a Nepalese climber to represent that. I wanted this book to be more inclusive of people today who enjoy adventures, so there are lots of women featured, also young people, old people, and a heroic disabled man who travels around the world by wheelchair. The nature of adventure writing, and the history of expeditions and exploration, mean that many of the star characters from history were white wealthy men. What was difficult was then deciding painfully who to leave out! My aim was to cover all different kinds of expedition and journey, making sure that all the parts of the world and all demographics of people who like adventure were included. It was easy for me to come up with a list of explorers because I just came up with a list of my heroes.

How difficult was it to select the final 20 explorers? Was there a whittling down process?

It evolved into something quite different, but when I had my first meetings with the publisher, it was these retro albums from the 1970s and 80s that I took in to spark the conversation. The book was originally inspired by the old comics and annuals of my childhood, things like The Victor Book for Boys and the Alf Tupper comic strip. I wanted to share some of the crazy heroes that have shaped my life, with a younger audience. I loved reading books as a kid, but I was not exposed to the world of adventure and expedition writing until I was a young adult. How did your winning book, Alastair Humphreys’ Great Adventurers, come about?

Alastair Humphreys' Great Adventurers by Alastair Humphreys