Alice Albinia – författare

One of the largest rivers in the world, the Indus rises in the Tibetan mountains and flows west across northern India and south through Pakistan. It has been worshipped as a god, used as a tool of imperial expansion, and today is the cement of Pakistan’s fractious union. Alice Albinia follows the river upstream, through two thousand miles of geography and back to a time five thousand years ago when a string of sophisticated cities grew on its banks. “This turbulent history, entwined with a superlative travel narrative” (The Guardian) leads us from the ruins of elaborate metropolises, to the bitter divisions of today. Like Rory Stewart’s The Places In Between, Empires of the Indus is an engrossing personal journey and a deeply moving portrait of a river and its people.

10th anniversary edition with new PrefaceOne of the largest rivers in the world, the Indus rises in the Tibetan mountains, flows west across northern India and south through Pakistan. For millennia it has been worshipped as a god; for centuries used as a tool of imperial expansion; today it is the cement of Pakistans fractious union. Five thousand years ago, a string of sophisticated cities grew and traded on its banks. In the ruins of these elaborate metropolises, Sanskrit-speaking nomads explored the river, extolling its virtues in Indias most ancient text, the Rig-Veda. During the past two thousand years a series of invaders - Alexander the Great, Afghan Sultans, the British Raj - made conquering the Indus valley their quixotic mission. For the people of the river, meanwhile, the Indus valley became a nodal point on the Silk Road, a centre of Sufi pilgrimage and the birthplace of Sikhism. Empires of the Indus follows the river upstream and back in time, taking the reader on a voyage through two thousand miles of geography and more than five millennia of history redolent with contemporary importance.

From Neolithic Orkney, Viking Shetland, and Druidical Anglesey to the joys and strangeness of modern Thanet, The Britannias explores the farthest reaches of Britain’s island topography, once known by the collective term “Britanniae” (the Britains). This expansive journey demonstrates how the smaller islands have wielded disproportionate influence on the mainland, becoming the fertile ground of political, cultural, and technological innovations that shaped history throughout the archipelago.In an act of feminist inquiry, personal adventure, and literary quest, Alice Albinia embarks on a series of journeys that traverse Britain and reach beyond its contemporary borders—from Europe to the Caribbean, Ireland to Scandinavia. She walks the coastlines of Lindisfarne, sails through the Hebrides archipelago, and bikes into Westminster at dawn. As she takes us across extravagantly varied island topographies and surveys centuries of history, Albinia ranges between languages and genres, and through disparate island cultures. She talks to stubbornly independent islanders and searches for archaeological and linguistic traces of island identities, discovering distinct traditions and resistance to mainland control.Trespassing into the past to understand the present, The Britannias uncovers an enduring and subversive mythology of islands ruled by women. Albinia finds female independence woven through Roman colonial reports and Welsh medieval poetry, Restoration utopias and island folk songs. These neglected epics offer fierce feminist countercurrents to mainstream narratives of British identity and shed new light on women’s status in the body politic today.Vivid, perceptive, and disruptive, The Britannias boldly upturns established truths about Britain while revealing its suppressed and forgotten beauty.

'Fantastic - a wonderful book' Lily Cole'Magical, rich and magnificent' Maxine Peake'A wild ride! She sees Graves' White Goddess and raises 50 with female magic and transformations' Margaret Atwood'A rare book, bold and powerful' Xiaolu Guo'Wild, original...a beautiful work' Neel MukherjeeSHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE FOR POLITICAL FICTION 2022NOMINATED FOR THE OTHERWISE AWARD 2022A storm, a disappearance, a band of women and a remote island where anything is possible.On an unnamed archipelago off the east coast of Britain, Eva Levi has made it her life's work to build a community truly run by women. Now she has disappeared, rumours spread that it will be destroyed. But Cwen will never let that happen.Cwen has been here longer than the civilisation she has returned to haunt. Her name has ancient roots, reaching down into the earth and halfway around the world. The islands she inhabits have always belonged to women. And she will do anything she can to protect them.This remarkable novel is a portrait of female power and female potential, both to shelter and to harm. It reaches into our mythical past and opens up space for us to dream of a radical future.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR'A dazzlingly brilliant book' Hannah Dawson'Fascinating, often exhilarating ... Albinia is an intrepid, imaginative guide' TLSThe Britannias tells the story of Britain's islands and how they are woven into its collective cultural psyche.From Neolithic Orkney to modern-day Thanet, Alice Albinia explores the furthest reaches of Britain's island topography, once known (wrote Pliny) by the collective term, Britanniae. Sailing over borders, between languages and genres, trespassing through the past to understand the present, this book knocks the centre out to foreground neglected epics and subversive voices.The ancient mythology of islands ruled by women winds through the literature of the British Isles - from Roman colonial-era reports, to early Irish poetry, Renaissance drama to Restoration utopias - transcending and subverting the most male-fixated of ages. The Britannias looks far back into the past for direction and solace, while searching for new meaning about women's status in the body politic. Boldly upturning established truths about Britain, it pays homage to the islands' beauty, independence and their suppressed or forgotten histories.

Travel across oceans and through time with award-winning historian and storyteller Alice Albinia in her first children's book, Once Upon an Island.Discover 20 wondrous islands - from the rugged landscape of the Orkney islands that people of the Stone Age once called home, to the sunny coasts of the Isles of Scilly. This captivating journey reveals islands as places of wonder and warning, rich with histories that have shaped the world far beyond their shores.Perfect for curious explorers, map lovers and anyone enchanted by the magic of faraway places, Once Upon an Island is an unforgettable voyage through geography, history and story.Featuring first person narratives and read-aloud maps, all brought to life with beautiful illustrations by Helen Cann. Islands include:1. Chiloé2. Waiheke3. Madagascar4. Lake Titicaca5. Samoa6. Tiwi7. Seychelles8. Amazon River Islands9. Mumbai10. Hawai'i11. Isla Mujeres12. Yonaguni13. Putuo14. Sicily15. Lesbos16. Vis17. Scilly18. Texel19. Orkney20. Baffin