Do *you* have a story to tell about your outdoor adventures?
We urgently need fresh ideas in the world of nature- and adventure- writing
The recent revelations about The Salt Path - that its author may have lied about the circumstances in which she came to do the walk (if indeed she did ever actually hike the South West Coast Path); about being homeless, and about her husband’s medical condition - are provoking fevered interest. Mumsnet users have filled two whole threads of 1000 posts each on the subject, and a third is well on its way. One of the questions that many readers are debating is whether author Raynor Winn/Sally Walker’s creativity with the truth is symptomatic of a publishing industry and readership that, for decades, has been so obsessed with a certain type of nature- or adventure- narrative, that some writers may feel compelled to mould their experiences to fit - even if it involves lying. In the Independent today, Adam White writes that ‘when it comes to The Salt Path scandal, we only have ourselves to blame’ because ‘we wanted t…