About Us

 

The Bradt Story

 

When Hilary Bradt and her then husband George set out on their travels in South America in 1973, little could they have realised that the journey which they were embarking on would lead to the creation of what has become one of the most esteemed and specialised travel publishing companies in the world.

 

Hilary and George wrote their first guide on a river barge floating down a tributary of the Amazon. In the 30-plus years since then, over 130 further titles have been added to the stable, many of them written in the early years by Hilary and George themselves. The company has grown slowly but consistently – its sustainable philosophy has extended beyond travel and is at the heart of its own development – which means that each title has been hand picked for adding something new and worthwhile to the ever-increasing range of guides now available in bookshops around the world, and only authors who have a genuine passion for, and knowledge of, the places which they write about have been invited to contribute to the list.

 

Today Bradt has a reputation for being a pioneer in tackling ‘unusual’ destinations, for championing the causes of sustainable travel (we call it ‘Travelling Positively’), and for the high quality of its writing. Our books are as much travelogues as travel guides, infused as they are with the personal voice and accounts of each author, and we value in-depth knowledge, real insight, a personal touch and, perhaps above all else, a sense of the quirky, unique and the faintly ridiculous. We recognise that travellers’ interests are too varied to shoehorn a manuscript into a publisher’s template, and that’s why each one of our books is different, drawing out the aspects and features of a destination which make it special, and allowing authors to indulge their individual passions.

 

In 1997 Bradt received the Sunday Times Small Publisher of the Year Award. We’re also proud of our record of six Best Guidebook awards from the British Guild of Travel Writers, while in the USA two of our authors have received the prestigious Lowell Thomas award.

 

In 2008 we won the Wanderlust Gold Award for Best Guidebook Series and Hilary Bradt was awarded an MBE.

 

The Bradt Story
Hilary Bradt

 

The Bradt Team

 

There are 15 of us based at head office in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England. The Bradt board consists of:

 

Hilary Bradt MBE, Founder

 

Hilary trained as an occupational therapist, working in the USA in the 1960s to fund her first trip to South America. In 1969 she travelled alone from Colombia to Peru, and then down the Amazon to Brazil. She returned to South America in 1973 for an 18-month ‘honeymoon’, during which she and George travelled the length of the continent, discovering en route that the Andes rivalled the Himalayas for trekking but no-one knew where to go. Their Little Yellow Book, Backpacking along ancient ways in Peru and Bolivia, was written on a river barge moving slowly down one of the more obscure Bolivian tributaries of the Amazon, typed up in the small town of Trinidad, printed in Boston, and sold for $1.95.

 

Since 1979 Hilary has combined writing and publishing with tour-leading to South America, Africa and, more recently, Madagascar, getting to know tourists’ interests, values and foibles first hand – invaluable experience for a travel publisher.

 

She has written or co-written a total of 13 books, two of which – Peru and Bolivia and Madagascar – have both gone into eight editions (Madagascar is actually now into its ninth) as well as numerous articles. She now has her own website, hilarybradt.com.

 
Donald Greig, Managing Director

 
Donald Greig has spent much of his life travelling for one reason or another. As the son of Scottish and Australian parents who had met in Canada, his childhood was distinctly nomadic and he grew up in a range of countries from the UK to Hong Kong and several places in between. While reading English at university in Scotland he started travel writing for publishers, magazines and newspapers, before embarking on a career in-house with a number of well known international and domestic travel publishers in the UK, including Berlitz, Jarrold Publishing, Dorling Kindersley and Thomas Cook Publishing.

 

A career break in 2004 offered time to indulge in a prolonged period of travel around the world, including a 10-day passage on a cargo ship from Singapore to Sydney. By chance a job in Australia then afforded the opportunity to spend a further year as Publisher with Steve Parish Publishing in Brisbane.

 

After returning to the UK, Donald was delighted to join Bradt as Publishing Director, before taking over from Hilary Bradt as Managing Director in April 2007.

 

Peter Jay, Financial Director & Chairman

 

Peter qualified as a chartered accountant in 1979 and followed a successful career in public practice. He particularly enjoyed the opportunities this provided to gain knowledge and experience of the commercial issues and strategies applicable to a wide variety of businesses which informed the advice he was able to give to his clients.

He first became involved with Bradt when Hilary became a client over 20 years ago. An increasingly close association with the company led to appointment as non- executive director in 2003. In 2008 after over 30 years in the accountancy profession he decided that it was time to change direction and was very pleased to be able to take the opportunity to become executive finance director for Bradt.

 

Adrian Phillips, Publishing Director

 

Adrian is well acquainted with sojourns off the beaten track; unfortunately – thanks to a staggeringly poor sense of direction – these are often unintended and taken within a short distance of his own house. Nevertheless, accidentally or otherwise, he has always travelled in the ‘Bradt way’, and fate determined that he should join the company in 2001, after completing a PhD in English Literature.

 

Having spent two years getting a view of things from the publishing side of the fence, Adrian tried on the author’s cap by taking a sabbatical to write Bradt guides to Budapest and Hungary. The latter won the ‘Best Guidebook of the Year’ award from the British Guild of Travel Writers. In addition to guidebooks, he writes regularly for national newspapers and magazines (including The Express, The Independent and Wanderlust). After a stint working as an editorial and press consultant, Adrian returned to Bradt full-time as Editorial Director in April 2007. He has served as Publishing Director since May 2009.

 

 

The rest of the team is split between Editorial/Production and Sales and Marketing as follows:

 

Helen Anjomshoaa

Publishing Services and Rights Manager

 
Anna Moores

Managing Editor

 
Emma Thomson

Commissioning Editor

 

Maisie Fitzpatrick

Project Manager

 
Elspeth Beidas

Project Editor

 
Janet Mears

Editorial Assistant

 
Helen Calderon

Sales Manager (UK and US)

 
Debbie Everson

Sales Manager (Export/RoW)

 
Deborah Gerrard

Advertising and Special Sales Executive

 
Debbie Hunter

Marketing Executive

 
Julie May

Bookkeeper

 

 

 

 

Click here if you thought Bradt was spelled Brandt!

 

The Bradt Team
The Bradt Team