The queen of women travel writers whose books continue to inspire, Dervla Murphy captured global exploration like no other
- Now almost 90, Murphy has more than two dozen books to her name and this year won the Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing
- Her travels, whether in Asia, Africa or South America, have frequently been cited as inspirational by fans that include Michael Palin
For her 10th birthday, Dervla Murphy was given a bicycle and an atlas.
While pedalling one and perusing the other, she later wrote, she concluded that if she could just get across the sea to Europe from her native Ireland, she could cycle all the way to India. A little more than two decades later, having spent long years caring for her bedridden mother, she did exactly that.
Other solo explorers such as Freya Stark and Isabella Bird had ranged far and wide before her, but none wrote about it with such warmth, immediacy and disdain for home comforts while castigating social injustices, whether it was the plight of Tibetan refugees in Nepal or the folly of logging in Laos.
With more than two dozen books to her name, and still glowing from winning this year’s Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing, Murphy now passes her days in the town of Lismore, where she grew up, frail but as feisty as ever.