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{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=Ox Travels
|author=Michael Palin
|reviewer=Luci Davin
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=480
|publisher=Profile Books
|isbn=978-1846684968
|website=http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/content/books/oxtravels/default.html?pscid=ps_ggl_GR_Shop-OxTravels&gclid=CLqh8NvmrakCFQEY4Qodsx3EJw
|videocover=1wSlfyF50oA184668496X|amazonukaznuk=<amazonuk>184668496X</amazonuk>|amazonusaznus=<amazonus>184668496X</amazonus>
}}
Ox Travels is an anthology of travel writing compiled to raise funds for Oxfam, but it is well worth buying and reading in its own right. Its generous 432 pages offer the chance to meet 36 writers, including travel writers, journalists and novelists, with an introduction by Michael Palin and an afterword by Barbara Stocking, Oxfam's Chief Executive.
Each piece starts with a photo and a mini biography of the writer, including where and when they were born, where they now live and some of their best known or most recent books. I think this is really useful, as travel writing is such a personal form and any writer's observations while travelling are going to be informed by their own experience and origins. It also offers a good starting point for exploring further work by those involved. I was attracted to the collection by the participation of a couple of old favourites, but I will certainly be looking out for more by some of the new-to-me writers.
Just over a quarter of the contributors are women. The editors mostly invited writers who live in Britain to contribute, and there are only a handful of writers who come from outside “the West” themselves. The authors' ages range from 34 to 96, although the majority are in their 40s and 50s. Big names include [[:Category:Paul Theroux|Paul Theroux]] and [[:Category:Colin Thubron|Colin Thubron]].
In ''A Cave on the Black Sea'', Patrick Leigh Fermor, who has just died aged 96, writes about sharing a campfire meal with a group of Bulgarian sailors, while walking across Europe back in 1934.
Oxfam's earlier fundraising collections of short fiction, 4 volumes of Ox Tales, have been reviewed by the Bookbag – see [[Ox-Tales: Water by Oxfam|Ox Tales: Water]] here. Bookbag reviews of other books by Ox Travels contributors include [[Palestinian Walks: Notes from a Vanishing Landscape by Raja Shehadeh]], Tim Butcher's [[Chasing the Devil: On Foot Through Africa's Killing Fields by Tim Butcher|Chasing the Devil]], [[Access All Areas: Selected Writings 1990-2010 by Sara Wheeler|Access All Areas]] and [[The Magnetic North: Travels in the Arctic by Sara Wheeler|The Magnetic North]] by Sara Wheeler, and [[The Island That Dared: Journeys in Cuba by Dervla Murphy]].
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[[Category:Anthologies]]