The website Reading and Walking explores the interdisciplinary relationship between walking as a practice and the act of reading, examining how both activities engage with spatial and experiential dimensions. It features a range of essays, projects, and research that investigate walking as a method for reading environments, landscapes, and texts. This site presents walking not merely as physical movement, but as a cultural and intellectual practice that intersects with literary studies, geography, and art.
The content highlights theoretical frameworks and case studies that link walking with various modes of interpretation, emphasizing how movement through space influences perception and understanding. It includes contributions from scholars and practitioners who address themes such as psychogeography, urban exploration, and the role of walking in narrative structures. The site serves as a resource for those interested in the cultural geographies of walking and its implications for reading both cityscapes and written works.
Most recent articles
29. Simon Armitage, Walking Away: Further Travels with a Troubadour on England’s South West Coast Path
I read Simon Armitage’s Walking Away: Further Travels with a Troubadour on England’s South West Coast Path while walking along Hadrian’s Wall. Okay, not while trudging along beside rivers and roads or climbing steep hills (the poor Roman soldiers who hauled stones and mortar up those heights), but on the flight to England, on trains, … Continue reading 29. Simon Armitage, Walking Away: Further Travels with a Troubadour on England’s South West Coast Path →
• 27. Noreen Masud, A Flat Place: Moving through Empty Landscapes, Naming Complex Trauma
I brought Noreen Masud’s A Flat Place: Moving through Empty Landscapes, Naming Complex Trauma with me on this trip because a) it’s been on my desk for ages, and b) I live in a flat place (or so I thought, but not according to Masud’s use of that term), and c) I heard that it’s … Continue reading 27. Noreen Masud, A Flat Place: Moving through Empty Landscapes, Naming Complex Trauma →
• Dani Karavan, “Passatjes,” Portbou, Spain
Dani Karavan’s memorial to the philosopher Walter Benjamin, Passatjes, has been here in Portbou since 1994. Benjamin died here in 1940. Although he had a safe conduct pass that should’ve allowed him to cross Spain and enter Portugal, the police refused him entry. Because he was in poor health, he was allowed to remain in … Continue reading Dani Karavan, “Passatjes,” Portbou, Spain →
• 25. Tim Ingold, Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description
Tim Ingold’s Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description has been on my bookshelf for several years, one of those books I’ve bought with every intention of reading and hadn’t opened. In fact, I think I bought it because someone recalled the copy I had borrowed from the library, which was also sitting on … Continue reading 25. Tim Ingold, Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description →
• La Sagrada Familia and 24. Gillian Jerome, Nevertheless: Walking Poems
Here’s something new: a walk paired with a book. I’ve never done this before. La Familia Sagrada: does that count as a walk? Does it matter? I walked there; I walked around while I was there, listening to the audio guide; I’ll be walking back. Good enough for me. What an incredible cathedral; what a … Continue reading La Sagrada Familia and 24. Gillian Jerome, Nevertheless: Walking Poems →
• Walking the Bypass: Notes on Place from the Side of the Road wins a Saskatchewan Book Award!
Walking the Bypass: Notes on Place from the Side of the Road, took home the best nonfiction book award at last night’s Saskatchewan Book Awards. I was happy enough to be nominated; winning is incredible. Links to an online retailer in the UK and the US and Canadian distributors are on my other site, if … Continue reading Walking the Bypass: Notes on Place from the Side of the Road wins a Saskatchewan Book Award! →
• 21. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Theory of Water: Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead
Theory of Water is an important, often beautiful book that outlines a Nishnaabeg theory of relationality, using water, or Nibi, in all of its forms (liquid, solid as ice or snow, gas) as its primary example. It thinks about the fundamental importance of connections between humans, and between humans and other creatures, all of whom have … Continue reading 21. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Theory of Water: Nishnaabe Maps to the Times Ahead →
• 19. Barbara Lounder, Becoming Corona Walker
I met Barbara Lounder at the Walking’s New Movements conference in Plymouth, UK, in the fall of 2019. She and her husband, Robert Bean, were very kind; they even invited me for dinner with Hamish Fulton, the renowned walking artist. Barbara and I have kept in touch since then, and when she let me know … Continue reading 19. Barbara Lounder, Becoming Corona Walker →
• 18. Ann de Forest, editor, Ways of Walking
I was on a Zoom call a couple of weeks ago, learning more about a walking workshop I’ll be part of in early May. I recognized the name of one of the other participants: Ann de Forest. Don’t I have a book by her? I asked myself. When the call ended, I went looking. Yes, … Continue reading 18. Ann de Forest, editor, Ways of Walking →
• 13. Anne Swannell, Mall
The honours student I’m co-supervising (and what a lucky introduction to supervising students!) likes Anne Swannell’s 1993 book of poetry, Mall. She’s interested in writing poems about places that aren’t particularly “poetic”–nice to look at, complete, obvious subjects for contemplation–and recommended Mall as an example of the kind of thing she would like to write. … Continue reading 13. Anne Swannell, Mall →
• 10. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies
One of the great things about my job during the past couple of years is that I’ve had the opportunity to teach Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies. It’s like no novel you’ve read before, because it’s a powerful anticolonial novel that decolonizes the genre. I get to reread this book every … Continue reading 10. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies →
• 4. Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
I read Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running 20 years ago, when it came out. I remember being fascinated by his account of running marathons and participating in triathlons, mostly because I’ve never been athletic and found it incredible that a man almost 20 years older than I was then … Continue reading 4. Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running →
• Walking the Bypass reviewed in The Literary Review of Canada
Walking the Bypass: Notes on Place from the Side of the Road has been reviewed in The Literary Review of Canada. So many excellent books published in this country get little attention; Walking the Bypass has received two reviews, this one and the earlier discussion in Harper’s Magazine. I am beyond grateful. Check out the new review, which appears in the … Continue reading Walking the Bypass reviewed in The Literary Review of Canada →
• The 13 Most Magical Long Walks in the World
Long walks can be magical, if you have the time and ability to go on one, and this article describes 13 possibilities. Some I knew about; some I’ve completed; some are completely new to me. One thought: I can’t imagine paying for a guided tour of the Camino de Santiago. That’s not necessary, in my … Continue reading The 13 Most Magical Long Walks in the World →
• On Creative Writing Interview
I’ve been interviewed for the website On Creative Writing. I discuss my influences and what inspired my book, Walking the Bypass: Notes on Place from the Side of the Road. Curious about what connects George Orwell to “dirty nature writing”? Read the i...
• Sacred Journeys 13th Global Conference, Université Laval University, Quebec City, Canada, July 7-10, 2026
The call for papers for Sacred Journeys 13th Global Conference is out. Abstracts for papers on any aspect of pilgrimage are due 15 February 2026, although you don’t have to present a paper to participate. You might just be interested in pilgrimage–perhaps as a practitioner, someone who has travelled to places that are sacred to … Continue reading Sacred Journeys 13th Global Conference, Université Laval University, Quebec City, Canada, July 7-10, 2026 →
• 50. Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step
I’ve been practicing mindfulness in a small way since the beginning of January, mostly by practicing guided walking meditation, and I realize I’m at the very beginning of understanding it. I’ve learned from those guided meditations, and from podcasts, but I haven’t read much about it, and since reading is the primary way I take … Continue reading 50. Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step →
• 49. Karen Solie, Wellwater
Karen Solie’s Wellwater arrived last week, before it won the Governor-General’s Award, and its ascension (not the first accolade Solie’s writing has received) prompted me to bring it along to read on the train. It’s astonishing, so much so that I don’t know what to say about it. My first reading, against the sound of … Continue reading 49. Karen Solie, Wellwater →
• 47. Robert Macfarlane, Stanley Donwood, and Dan Richards, Holloway
Holloway has been on my shelf for years. Like Simon Armitage’s Blossomise, it’s a chapbook, more or less, published by Faber and Faber, with illustrations by Stanley Donwood. Its brevity, and the thought that it would fit into my carry-on bag on this trip to Ontario, prompted me to bring it with me. A holloway … Continue reading 47. Robert Macfarlane, Stanley Donwood, and Dan Richards, Holloway →
• 45. Simon Armitage, Blossomise
I don’t know a lot about Simon Armitage, but I loved his memoir, Walking Home: A Poet’s Journey, and I know he’s the UK’s poet laureate and a professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. A poem from this book was assigned reading in a writing workshop I’m participating in, led by Yvonne Blomer, … Continue reading 45. Simon Armitage, Blossomise →
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The Walking Library
The Walking Library is an ongoing creative research project created by Misha Myers and Dee Heddon, that seeks to bring together walking and books – walking, reading, reflecting, writing… Inaugurated in 2012, each Walking Library edition we create responds to – is specific to – the context of its walking. Each walk changes the shape – the content and the actions – of the library. The Walking Library, bringing together walking and reading, follows in the footsteps of a long history.
stefaanvanbiesen
The website of Stefaan Van Biesen presents a comprehensive overview of his work as an artist and researcher, with a particular emphasis on walking as an artistic and investigatory practice. It features examples of his projects that intersect art, cultural geography, and performative walking, exploring spatial narratives and urban experiences through site-specific interventions. The content highlights key exhibitions, collaborations, and publications that reflect his interest in how movement and place-making contribute to cultural understanding. The site also documents Van Biesen’s approach to walking art as a tool for engaging with landscapes and social contexts, often merging personal reflection with broader socio-political themes. It includes visual materials such as photographs, videos, and maps that accompany his written explorations, providing insight into his methodologies and conceptual frameworks. Overall, the website situates Stefaan Van Biesen within the contemporary discourse on walking as a mode of critical inquiry and creative expression in cultural geography and art.
annacedmonds.com
Anna is a Brighton based sound artist, field recordist, and researcher with a love for heritage sites, landscapes, and buildings at risk. She has a PhD in Art and Media from the University of Brighton. Her research involves designing and composing immersive mobile listening experiences for the heritage sector, exploring public engagement and storytelling through ambisonics, taking the form of musical composition, dialogue, and sound effects. She prioritises versatility and accessibility in the new technology she tests, aiming to create experiences which can be enjoyed by a wide range of listeners.
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