Zoroaster's Children: and Other Travels

(Paperback)

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Longlisted for the 2016 RBC Taylor Prize

Zoroaster's Children brings together the best of Marius Kociejowski's travel writing. A companion volume to last year's critically acclaimed The Pebble Chance, these essays, conceived somewhere between "a waning moon and the nerves behind a flayed man's face," evince the deep absorption in a people and place which are the hallmark of great travel writers.

Marius Kociejowski is the award-winning author of four collections of poetry, two celebrated travel memoirs, and a collection of his best essays, The Pebble Chance. He lives and works as a bookseller in London, England.

Reviews

Praise for Zoroaster's Children "Poet and travel writer Kociejowski journeys widely and writes to 'describe the world' and make deeper inquiries into human nature ... Highly recommended for its poetic presentation of experiences in different locations, this account is inspired by the past and a plethora of emotions."--Library Journal, Starred Review "[Kociejowski is] one of the most evocative travel writers to emerge in the last decade ... He may well be peerless ... All the essays feature a laser-like focus on individuals and a relative indifference to their surroundings ... In city after city--Prague, Moscow, Toronto--Kociejowski does the same thing: encounters people, pays extraordinary attention to them, and captures them indelibly."--Maclean's "Travel for Kociejowski is a metaphor for life -- movement toward an uncertain and possibly non-existent destination, without a map or compass. "--Patrick Kurp, Anecdotal Evidence Praise for Marius Kociejowski "Kociejowski draws on all the aspects of his life in these engaging, idiosyncratic personal essays ... [that] proffer the reader equal measures of autobiography, insight and quirky charm."--Michael Dirda, The Washington Post "Here the charm is deep, the splendour unlaboured; the colours of history, reckoned afresh, saturate singular people, in whom passion is lucid again...here is one who collects his extraordinary resources, and strides."--Christopher Middleton "It is a testament to the power of this superb book that I felt not despondency, but ... elation."--Adam Thorpe, The Times Literary Supplement "Treasures are revealed ... with a formidable erudition, and at their best they gleam with an enameled splendour."--Ken Babstock, The Globe and Mail "Kociejowski writes beautifully ... unusual, poetic, and thought-provoking."--Library Journal

Author Bio

In addition to being an essayist and travel writer, Marius Kociejowski is the award-winning author of four collections of poetry, including The Street Philosopher and the Holy Fool, and is the editor of Syria Through Writers' Eyes. He lives and works as a bookseller in London, England.