The Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature continues to attract a substantial level of entries. This year there were 41 entries, from Great Britain, Canada, Ireland, France, Norway and the USA. The Award will be made at the Boardman Tasker Shortlisted Authors and Awards event at the Kendal Mountain Festival On-Line, at 7 to 9pm (UK time) on Saturday 20th November 2021.
The judges for 2021 are David Canning (Chair) Natalie Berry and Marni Jackson.
They have selected the following 6 books for this year’s shortlist:
Ed Caesar
The Moth and The Mountain: A True Story of Love, War and Everest
Viking (an imprint of Penguin Random House)
Caesar's account of Maurice Wilson's attempt to fly to and climb Mount Everest is an often tragic and pathetic story but never judgmental. Wilson could be the woefully unprepared climber we'd all like to despise but Caesar helps us to develop a warm attachment to him; Wilson frankly deserved better in death and this book is a fitting tribute to his amazing journey.
Ed Douglas
Himalaya: A Human History
Penguin Random House
An extensively researched book exploring the human histories of the Himalaya and how the mountains and their geological and imagined boundaries have shaped people and place. Douglas breaks down the romanticised Western stereotypes of Sherpas and other native peoples in the region and the exchanges, exploits and exploitations that have occurred on the 'roof of the world'.
Stephen Fabes
Signs of Life: To the Ends of the World with a Doctor
Profile books: Pursuit Books
Engaging, heartwarming, and often very funny, Fabes' accounts of his journeys around the world on a bicycle, and the people he meets along the way, are culturally sympathetic, mature, and poignant.
Helen Mort
Never Leave the Dog Behind
Vertebrate Publishing
Explores the deep bond that exists between people, their dogs, and the mountains with delightful prose and poetry. The dogs that feature are often the main characters in Mort's storytelling, but she also manages to expertly weave in personal elements too.
Elisabeth Revol
To Live: Fighting for Life on the Killer Mountain
Vertebrate Publishing
The compelling account of Revol's survival on Nanga Parbat in winter, of survivor's guilt and the need to tell her story as an act of healing. The writing is visceral and honest, and Revol speaks a universal truth about mountaineering that needs to be heard.
David Smart
Emilio Comici, Angel of the Dolomites
Rocky Mountain Books
A very impressive biography, well written and researched, of one of Italy's foremost climbers, who put up some of the first big wall climbs and developed new climbing style and techniques.
Once again the Award continues to attract a high level of interest and entries on a variety of aspects of the mountain environment.
Steve Dean
Secretary
Boardman Tasker Charitable Trust
20/08/2021
Mountain Equipment is proud to be associated with the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature, one of the most prestigious and respected international literary awards, and we’re delighted to be able to officially support it.
Climbing, mountaineering, and Alpinism in particular, have always been more than just a physical pursuit, and mountaineering literature more than just a physical record. Few other activities can have compelled so many of its participants to express themselves through writing, and even fewer seen so many of its most celebrated protagonists prove their worth as authors, a fact that the Award has sought to recognise and celebrate.
For sixty years we have been closely associated with Alpinism and we owe much to Pete and Joe, and those that they climbed with, not only for their achievements but for the generations since that they have challenged and inspired. We hope that by supporting the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature we can encourage others help to experience and understand the mountain environment through literature.
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Since 1961 Mountain Equipment has been at the forefront of Alpinism. Our philosophy is built around the pursuit of a raw, no-fuss, simple and lightweight approach to both mountaineering and life, where Alpinism is more than just how we climb, but about our entire approach to life and how we choose to live.
Richard Talbot
Mountain Equipment Product and Marketing Director