Sara Wheeler
Sara Wheeler is a Travel Journalist and Author. She spent seven months in Antarctica in 1995 as writer in residence with the U.S. Polar Program. She is the author of Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica, an international bestseller chosen by Beryl Bainbridge as one of the best books of the year, Travels in a Thin Country, a finalist for the Thomas Cook Award, Cherry and Too Close to the Sun exploring the life of Denys Finch Hatton. Her most recent book is Access All Areas: Selected Writings 1990-2010. Sara is also a regular contributor to publications such as Conde Nast Traveller and The Times as well as appearing on Radio 4 and 3.
Books
Access All Areas: Selected Writings 1990-2010 (2011. Cape UK; Farrar, Straus & Giroux US)
The Magnetic North: Notes from the Arctic Circle (2009. Cape UK; Farrar, Straus & Giroux US)
Too Close to the Sun: the Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton (2006. Cape UK; Random House US)
Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard (2001. Cape UK; Random House US)
Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica (1996. Cape UK; Random House US)
Travels in a Thin Country: A Journey through Chile (1994. Little, Brown UK; Random House US)
An Island Apart: Travels in Evia (1992. Little, Brown UK)
Co-editor: Amazonian: the Penguin book of womenâs new travel writing (1998. Penguin)
Translations include Chinese, Estonian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Czech.
Selected Reviews
Terra Incognita ‘A triumph . . . I cannot believe that anything better will ever be written about Antarctica’ Daily Telegraph
‘Antarctica could hope for no better chronicler: spirited, guourous and highly intelligent, she is also a writer of rare talent’ Observer
‘What she has done could not be done better’ Independent
‘Beautifully written throughout’ New York Times
Chosen as Book of the Year by John Major, Beryl Bainbridge and others.
The Magnetic North ‘One of the greatest travel books of our time’ Independent
‘Sara Wheeler is the literary maestro of the frozen regions Financial Times
‘Wheeler’s sense of place, science, self and story is exceptional’ New York Times
‘Brilliantly evocative’ The Times
‘Irresistibly attractive. I loved Terra incognita, and this was an equally coddling hoosh of personal travelogue, historical anecdotage and speculative thinking’ New Statesman
‘Her adventurous spirit, tireless intelligence, joy and wit shine through even the saddest pages . . . She has a rare and precious talent’ The Scotsman
Chosen as Book of the Year 2010 by Michael Palin, Will Self, A. N. Wilson and others.
Cherry ‘Superb’ Guardian
Evia ‘It recalls Patrick Leigh Fermor’s classics, where every step he takes is footnoted with idiosyncratic intelligence’ TLS
Other
BA Hons (Exhibitioner), Brasenose College, Oxford, 1980-4 (Classics and Modern Languages)
Elected Fellow, Royal Society of Literature 1999
Council member, Royal Society of Literature, 2001-2004
Trustee, London Library 2005-2009
Hawthornden Fellow 2010
Contributor to UK broadsheets and literary periodicals, New York Times, and BBC Radio 4 and 3 (Eg Start the Week, Woman’s Hour, Nightwaves)
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