Stuart Forster is a British

travel writer The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In the early modern period ...

, professional

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

and

blogger A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

Life and work

In March 2015, Forster was named Journalist of the Year at the Holland Press Awards for his body of work on the Netherlands and Dutch culture published in 2014. He retained that title at the 2016 awards. In 2017 he was presented with the award for the Best City Article, for a feature published on

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. In 2017 he was presented with the Best Online Coverage award at the British Annual Canada Travel Awards, which are known as the BACTAs within the travel industry. The awards were presented at

Canada House Canada House (french: Maison du Canada) is a Greek Revival building on Trafalgar Square in London. It has been a Grade II* Listed Building since 1970. It has served as the offices of the High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom since 192 ...

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 ...

. Forster's written work has appeared in the ''

Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

,'' ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

,'' ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

,''

The Times Group Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited, (abbreviated as B.C.C.L. and d/b/a The Times Group), is an Indian media conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company remains a family-owned business with Sahu Jain family owning a majority ...

publications, and ''

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by K. N. Guruswamy, a liquor businessman from Ballari and was launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printe ...

.'' He has written and photographed for ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

,'' ''

National Geographic Kids ''National Geographic Kids'' (often nicknamed to ''Nat Geo Kids'') is a children's magazine published by the National Geographic Society. Its first issue was printed in September 1975 under the original title ''National Geographic World'' (whic ...

,'' and ''

The Wisden Cricketer ''The Wisden Cricketer'' was the world's best-selling monthly cricket magazine. It was created in 2003 by a merger between ''The Cricketer'' magazine and ''Wisden Cricket Monthly''. It is now no longer connected to Wisden and is called ''The Cric ...

.'' He publishes food and travel

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

posts on his own site and ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

.'' In August 2015, his site was listed among the United Kingdom's top 50 food blogs. He has contributed to the books ''The Irresponsible Traveller: Tales of Scrapes and Narrow Escapes'' (Bradt, 2014), ''Driving Holidays Across India'' (Outlook Traveller, 2009), which was named the 2010 winner of India's National Tourism Award for best travel publication in English, and ''Secret Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World's Best Hidden Travel Gems'' (National Geographic, 2011). He wrote about snake boat racing in the

guidebook A guide book or travel guide is "a book of information about a place designed for the use of visitors or tourists". It will usually include information about sights, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, and activities. Maps of varying det ...

''Kerala'' (Stark World, 2006). Forster is a member of the

British Guild of Travel Writers The British Guild of Travel Writers Limited is a private company limited by guarantee formed in April 2015. This private company is the successor organisation to the erstwhile voluntary association known as the British Guild of Travel Writers. ...

. His photography is influenced by his mentor, the late Indian photojournalist N. Thiagarajan, who described himself as "a pictorial photojournalist". In May 2009, one of Forster's images, photographed during a demonstration in Delhi, India, was selected for inclusion in the UK

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Structure There i ...

' ''Photography Matters'' exhibition in London of fifty news photographs taken by NUJ members during 2007 and 2008. His work was also exhibited at the 2006 Pingyao International Photography Festival in

Pingyao Pingyao, officially Pingyao Ancient City, is a walled city in central Shanxi, China, famed for its importance in Chinese economic history and for its well-preserved Ming and Qing urban planning and architecture. Administratively, it comprises ...

, China. Forster is also active in the field of intercultural studies (

cross-cultural communication Cross-cultural communication is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate, in similar and different ways among themselves, and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures. Intercultural communic ...

) and lectures on photography and travel writing. Forster played national league basketball in England and Wales for U.C. Swansea (1990–93) and

Leicester Falcons The Leicester Falcons are an American football team based in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, that competes in the BAFA National Leagues NFC 1 South, the second level of British American football. The club currently operate from the Leicester ...

(1993–94). He was selected to play for the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

in the British Universities Sports Federation championships in 1992.

References

External links

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Stuart Forster interview by Mike Gerrard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Stuart Year of birth missing (living people) Living people English photojournalists English travel writers