Brandon Wilson (born October 2, 1953) is an American explorer and author of

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with be ...

travel narratives. A fellow of the

Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904, and has served as a meeting point fo ...

, he has written books and essays about his extensive travels on foot as a pilgrim. In 2006, he pioneered the Templar Trail, recreating the route of the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ru ...

from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, as a pilgrimage path of peace.

Early life and education

Wilson was born in

Sewickley, Pennsylvania Sewickley is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,827 according to the United States Census 2010, 20 ...

on October 2, 1953. He grew up in

Moon Township, Pennsylvania Moon Township is a township along the Ohio River in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Moon is a part of the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area and is located northwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 27,261 at the 2020 census. History ...

, a suburb of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. When he was 14, he began contributing articles to two local newspapers (''Coraopolis Record'' and ''Moon Bulletin''). He attended

Sewickley Academy Sewickley Academy is a private, independent, coeducation, college-preparatory academy located in Sewickley, Pennsylvania in the United States. The Academy educates 594 students, from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade. It is a member of the Nation ...

, graduated

Moon Area High School Moon Area High School is a public high school located in the Moon Area School District in Pennsylvania, United States. The school serves students in grades 9-12 from Moon and Crescent, South Heights borough, along with the communities of Glenw ...

(1971) and the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

where he was a member of Carolina Playmakers, matriculating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in communications and dramatic arts in 1973. Wilson then attended the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a private performing arts conservatory with two locations, one in Manhattan and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related art ...

, New York City (1974).

Career

Media

Wilson began his career with the

Seattle Repertory Theatre Seattle Repertory Theatre (familiarly known as "The Rep") is a major regional theatre located in Seattle, Washington, at the Seattle Center. It is a member of Theatre Puget Sound Utqiaġvik, Alaska Utqiagvik ( ik, Utqiaġvik; , , formerly known as Barrow ()) is the borough seat and largest city of the North Slope Borough, Alaska, North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located north of the Arctic Circle, it is one of the List of ...

(formerly Barrow), as the assistant to the Iñupiat mayor, where he reported on Arctic life for the ''

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner The '' Fairbanks Daily News-Miner'' is a morning daily newspaper serving the city of Fairbanks, Alaska, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the Denali Borough, and the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the farthest north ...

'' among others. After relocating to

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

, Wilson continued writing news and cultural articles for statewide newspapers while managing promotions with the Anchorage Convention & Visitor's Bureau. Wilson relocated to

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, Hawaii in 1986, where he was a senior copywriter at an ad agency until 1989 when he began a creative consultancy specializing in the travel industry, while writing adventure articles for national media.

Exploration

In 1990, after having lived in Hawaii for several years, Wilson and his wife, Cheryl Keefe, began a 17-country African transect from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. Their seven-month safari is recounted in their 2005 non-fiction travelogue, ''Dead Men Don't Leave Tips: Adventures X Africa''. The book received positive reviews from ''

Midwest Book Review Midwest Book Review, established in 1976, produces nine book-review publications per month. Organization Midwest Book Review was established in 1976. The editor-in-chief of the organization is James A. Cox. The review puts out nine publications on ...

'' and ''

The Maui News ''The Maui News'' is a Wailuku, Hawaii based, daily newspaper covering the islands of Maui, Lanai and Molokai. ''The Maui News'' began publication on February 17, 1900. Henry Perrine Baldwin Henry Perrine Baldwin (August 29, 1842 – July 8, ...

''. In 1992, after training at high elevations in

Vail, Colorado Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the num ...

, Wilson and his wife set off to walk a pilgrimage path from Lhasa, Tibet to

Kathmandu, Nepal , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Provi ...

. Upon arrival in Kathmandu, the Wilsons presented Tibetan prayer flags carried from Lhasa to the King of Nepal's private secretary at the Royal Palace. Wilson wrote a

travelogue Travelogue may refer to: Genres * Travel literature, a record of the experiences of an author travelling * Travel documentary A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general or ...

, ''Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith'', which describes the trek and struggle of the Tibetan people to survive

cultural genocide Cultural genocide or cultural cleansing is a concept which was proposed by lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944 as a component of genocide. Though the precise definition of ''cultural genocide'' remains contested, the Armenian Genocide Museum defines ...

. The book received positive reviews from ''

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

'', ''

,'' and ''

The Honolulu Advertiser ''The Honolulu Advertiser'' was a daily newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the largest daily newspaper in the American state of Hawaii. It published daily with special Sunday and Int ...

.'' It won a 2005 IPPY Award in the travel essay category. In 1999, Wilson learned of the

Camino de Santiago The Camino de Santiago ( la, Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; gl, O Camiño de Santiago), known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint ...

, a Spanish pilgrimage trail and continued his walks for peace in the historic tradition. Over the following fifteen years, he walked several pilgrim paths throughout Europe, and in 2014 was named a

Knight Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

- Knight of Malta. Templar Trail Pilgrimage Route

In April 2006, with the goal of establishing a modern-day

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

route from Europe to

, Wilson set off with 68-year-old Frenchman "Émile" on a , six-month from

Dijon, France Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earliest ...

to Jerusalem approximating the route of

Godfrey of Bouillon Godfrey of Bouillon (, , , ; 18 September 1060 – 18 July 1100) was a French nobleman and pre-eminent leader of the First Crusade. First ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100, he avoided the title of king, preferring that of princ ...

during the First Crusades. With the 2006 Hezbollah cross-border raid and outbreak of the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War ( ar, حرب تموز, ''Ḥarb Tammūz'') and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War ( he, מלחמת לבנון השנייה, ''Milhemet Leva ...

, walking on what they named the Templar Trail became more difficult and its success uncertain. They persevered, due in part to the newspaper and television coverage they received along the way, which helped spread their message of peace. Although "Émile" fell ill and was forced to return home from Istanbul, Wilson continued, arriving in Jerusalem on September 29, 2006. A non-fiction book recounting his journey, ''Along the Templar Trail: Seven Million Steps for Peace,'' was published in 2008. The book received positive reviews from ''

'' and ''ForeWord Magazine''. It won the "Best Travel Book" Gold Award at the 2009

Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards The Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards are administered by the U.S.-based Society of American Travel Writers Foundation (SATW Foundation), a nonprofit organization founded in the early 1980s to recognize excellence in travel journalism. The ...

. From June–September 2009, Wilson and his wife traversed the high Alps for across eight countries from

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

while researching a book about the

Via Alpina The Via Alpina is a network of five long-distance hiking trails across the alpine regions of Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Italy, France, and Monaco. The longest of trails is the red trail, whose termini are in Trieste a ...

, a new trans-European hiking network. Wilson's book about their journey, ''Over the Top & Back Again: Hiking X the Alps'', the first book in English about a Via Alpina thru-hike (per Assoc. Via Alpina), was published in October 2010, featuring illustrations by Ken Plumb. The book received positive reviews from ''

'', ''

The Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

'', and ''

''.

Works

Wilson has written extensively in long and short form. His publications include the following:

Books

* ''Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith'' (Heliographica, San Francisco, 2004 ; Pilgrim’s Tales, second edition, 2005) * ''Dead Men Don't Leave Tips: Adventures X Africa'' (Pilgrim’s Tales, 2005) * ''Along the Templar Trail'' (Pilgrim’s Tales, 2008) * ''Over the Top & Back Again: Hiking X the Alps'' (Pilgrim’s Tales, 2010) * ''Yak Butter Blues: Una Caminata de Fe Por El Tíbet'', (Pilgrim’s Tales, 2010, Spanish edition, translated by Ramon Solé) * ''Auf dem Templerweg: Sieben Millionen Schritte für Den Frieden'' (Pilgrim’s Tales, 2011, German edition of "''Along the Templar Trail''," translated by Imke Healy) * ''A Tibetan Trek of Faith'' (Heritage Publishers, Delhi, India, 2011)

Anthology stories

*"Life When Hell Freezes Over" in ''They Lived to Tell the Tale: True Stories of Adventure from the Legendary Explorers Club'' (Lyons Press/Globe Pequot, 2007) *"Thoughts from Along the Peace Trail" in ''Wounds of War: Poets for Peace'' (American Star Books, 2010) *"Stories from a trek across Tibet and from the Via Alpina, an adventure across the Alps" in ''The Walkabout Chronicles: Epic Journeys by Foot'' (Sacred World Explorations, 2016) *"Metamorphosis: The Making of a Pilgrim", (also provided the introduction and photos) in ''The Pilgrimage Chronicles: Embrace the Quest'' (Sacred World Explorations, 2017) *"Reflections: an excerpt from "Along the Templar Trail: Seven Million Steps for Peace" in ''Hip Poetry'' (Blue Lake Review, 2019)

Other writing/photography

*Photo essay about the Via de la Plata featured in ''Naïve & Abroad: Spain, Limping 600 Miles Through History'' by Marcus Wilder ( 2008) *Introduction to ''On a Donkey's Back'', a collection of poetry and paintings by and about the lives of Nepalese porters, (Yileen Press, 2008)

Exploration

Pilgrimage/Peace Walks: * pilgrimage path from Lhasa, Tibet to Kathmandu, Nepal with a side trek to Mt. Everest Basecamp (1992) *

(Francés), Spain (1999, 2005) *

Via Francigena The Via Francigena () is an ancient road and pilgrimage route running from the cathedral city of Canterbury in England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome and then to Apulia, Italy, where there were ports of embarkation for the Holy Land. It w ...

from England to Rome, with a side trip to Assisi (first American to complete this pilgrim route, per Assoc. Via Francigena (Rome) (2000, 2002) * St. Olav's Way across Norway (2004) * Founded the Templar Trail, a modern-day pilgrimage route for peace from France to Jerusalem (2006) * Via de la Plata from Seville to Santiago, Spain (2007)photo essay in the book ''Naïve & Abroad: Spain, Limping 600 Miles Through History'' by Marcus Wilder * St. Olav’s Way across Sweden and Norway (2014)

External links

Official author website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Brandon 1953 births Living people Writers from Pittsburgh American travel writers 21st-century American male writers Knights of Malta Writers from Hawaii American male non-fiction writers Fellows of the Explorers Club People from Sewickley, Pennsylvania Mensans University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni