Journalist and non-fiction author Tom Parfitt will give an illustrated talk about his memoir, High Caucasus: A Mountain Quest in Russia’s Haunted Hinterland (Headline, 2024), and the epic 1,000-mile journey on foot that he describes in the book, from Sochi on the Black Sea to Derbent on the Caspian.
In High Caucasus, Tom offers a personal interpretation of the North Caucasus region and its troubled history, or as fellow author Philip Marsden put it: "a drill-down into the deepest layers of human experience – collective memory and individual survival, the legacy of horror and the joy of healing".
In his talk, Tom will tell us how his experience of reporting on the 2004 Beslan school siege led to him undertake the walk across seven republics, including Chechnya – both as a means of coming to terms with what he had seen, and an attempt to understand what lay behind the terror.
The result is a story of war, deportations and suffering, but also of resilience, courage and continuity – of shepherds and mountain villages, of climbers and Cossacks, and of writers and rebels.
Copies of the paperback will be on sale, which Tom will be delighted to sign and dedicate.
Tom Parfitt studied Russian politics and language at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London and lived in Moscow for 20 years, working as a correspondent for The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Times.
During his two decades in Moscow, Tom reported frequently on conflict and human rights issues in Chechnya and the wider North Caucasus. In 2008, he received the Royal Geographical Society's Neville Shulman Award to complete his 1,000-mile journey across the northern flanks of the Greater Caucasus mountains.
High Caucasus was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature’s Christopher Bland Prize, the Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year and the Pushkin House Book Prize.
Booking will close 24 hours before the scheduled date for the event, i.e. by 7.00 pm on Wednesday, 25th November, so that we can notify KCL in advance of the names of those who have booked to attend in-person. GBRS will disseminate the Microsoft Teams link by email to online attendees on the evening of Wednesday, 25th November after 7.00 pm or on the morning of Thursday, 26th November. It would be helpful if on Thursday, 26th November you could aim to arrive at the Strand Building between 6.30 pm and (at the latest) 6.45 pm so as to register in good time at reception. KCL will kindly be providing drinks from 6.30 pm on.