Travel and Food Writing

In this Travel and Food Writing course you will learn how to write, review and report creatively about places you visit with a view to writing up your story online or in print. This course will cover developing and pitching ideas, how to hone observational skills, create a sense of place and liaise with PRs and the travel industry. You will learn about sustainable tourism, and how to write about local food, including a restaurant review. The course will reveal how travel and food writers get published.

As an added bonus, students who present a successful idea for the City St George’s Short Courses blog will have the opportunity to have their article professionally edited and published on the site. Details will be given on the course.

Who is it for?

This online Travel and Food Writing course is for those with some writing experience who want to write more effectively about people, places and new experiences. It is suitable for those who love food and are inspired by their travels; for travellers, bloggers, influencers and PRs working with travel or food clients. This course is not suitable for those wishing to improve their English.

Timetable

This Travel Writing course takes place every Monday for six weeks.

City St George’s Short Courses follow the academic year, delivering courses over three terms. These include:

• Autumn - October
• Spring - January
• Summer - April

Benefits

Learning from an industry expert and seasoned journalist, you will learn not only techniques to create compelling features, but also how to get them published in print or online.

The Travel and Food Writing course is open to anyone who regularly writes or reports as part of their job. You may already have a blog or extensive travel diaries. It may suit photographers looking to add words to their pictures and bloggers looking to engage more readers.

Over the course of 8 weekly evening classes on the Travel and Food Writing short course, you will learn:

• To improve your observation skills and convey your experiences eloquently
• To create copy to inspire
• To recognise a good story, engage readers and get commissioned
• How to evoke a sense of place
• How to structure a story
• How travel writers liaise with the travel industry to get ‘hospitality’.

You will also gain:

• How to identify a good travel story
• How to communicate with the travel industry
• How to write about local food
• How to pitch your story and approach editors with confidence
• An understanding of sustainable tourism
• An understanding of the travel pages on national newspapers and magazines.

Informal assessment will take place through group discussion, class room activities, and questions and answers sessions as guided by your tutor.

The online Travel Writing course is suitable for those with some writing experience who want to develop their ideas for travel writing; you may, or may not already write a blog. Those who are already published in other fields are more than welcome, as are photographers who would like to explore adding words to their photos.

English requirements

Applicants must be proficient in written and spoken English.

Travel:

• The Road to Oxiana, Robert Byron, Penguin Classics, 2007
• In Patagonia, Bruce Chatwin, Vintage, 1998
• The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway, Important Books, 2013
• Venice, Jan Morris, Faber and Faber, 1993
• A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, Eric Newby, Harper Press, 2010
• Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell, Penguin Classics, 2013
• The Great Railway Bazaar, Paul Theroux, Penguin Classics, 2008
• Among the Russians, Colin Thubron, Vintage, 2004

Food:

• Any title by renowned chef Anthony Bourdain
• Taste My Life Through Food, Stanley Tucci, Fig Tree 2022
• Green Mountains, Caroline Eden, Quadrille 2025