Leon McCarron – författare

SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARDS 2024''As epic as it is engaging'' Tom Holland''Jaunty, highly informative and ultimately sobering'' New York Review of Books''A fine book... Leon McCarron''s tough journey paints a rich and enthralling portrait'' Sir Michael PalinThe river Tigris 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.From the source, where Assyrian kings had their images carved into stone, McCarron and his small team journeyed through the Turkish mountains, across north-east Syria and into the heart of Iraq. Passing by historic cities like Diyarbakir, Mosul and Baghdad, McCarron kept the company of fishermen and farmers, but also artists, activists and archaeologists who rely on the flow of the river. Occasionally harassed by militias, often helped by soldiers, McCarron rode his luck in areas still troubled by ISIS and relied on the generosity of a network of strangers to reach the Persian Gulf.Wounded Tigris is the story of what humanity stands to lose with the death of a great river, and what can be done to try to save it.

The Tigris, the river that cradles Western civilisation, is in danger. If this river can be destroyed, anything can. But it's not quite dead yet.For thousands of years, the Tigris has acted as a lung exhaling life into Mesopotamia. Its cycles of flooding created seasons of plenty and seasons of scarcity. Water was once everywhere, from the northern Armenian mountains to the southern marshlands. But it is now beginning to falter, becoming clogged and erratic, and the changing climate is bringing environmental instability to the countries that rely on it.During the pandemic, in 2020, adventurer Leon McCarron travelled from the source of this great river in the Turkish highlands, through northern Syria, into the heart of Iraq, and all the way to the Persian Gulf. Passing through settlements of the old world McCarron talks to the inhabitants of cities like Diyarbakir, Mosul and Baghdad, discovering how their own survival is often entwined with that of the river. Today, almost 30 million people live in the watershed of the Tigris, but the river faces existential threats on multiple fronts.In Wounded Tigris, McCarron sets out to explore and enlighten readers to the wonders of this ancient Mesopotamian landscape by taking us on a fascinating journey from source to mouth, telling the incredible story of its past, present and future. A future that we have the power to save.