Oliver Balch

Sheep, hills and inbreds. The typical image of rural Wales is hardly flattering. So why is a little market town in the Welsh Marches attracting waves of newcomers? Hay-on-Wye is hardly typical. Nestled under the Black Mountains, its home to 20 second-hand bookshops and the UKs largest literary festival. Yet is that the sum of its appeal? From an old pottery workshop under a castle tump, Oliver Balch embarks on an entertaining expedition of his new home to find out who and what makes it tick. In his signature reportage style, his investigations take him to the weekly market with the Merry Widows and down the pub with the local old boys. He meets with ex-hippies up in the hills and visits a self-appointed King in his palace. Oliver Balch avoids romanticising the British countryside in favour of an honest and vividly told sketches of real life on the Welsh borders. An unusual portrait of a very unusual place.

Simon Bolivar once inspired a continent to rise from its serfdom and throw off the shackles of Spanish rule, setting the course for independence, freedom and equality. "Viva South America!" sets out to discover if that dream lives on. Is it fair to describe a land as ''independent'' while poverty still enslaves millions, where violence lurks in the shadows and where lawlessness gnaws away at progress? Did the Liberators fail? Or are leaders such as Venezuela''s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia''s Evo Morales resurrecting those long-ago ideals?Armed with a reporter''s notebook and an open mind, the author hits the road in search of answers. With the ghost of Bolivar as guide, the quest takes the reader off the tourist trail and into the weird and wonderful worlds of South American culture and society. By stepping into people''s homes and into inmates'' prison cells, by climbing onto dance floors and over road blocks, Oliver Balch unearths untold stories from the front line of South America''s contemporary fight for freedom.

India is on the up. Historically derided as the lumbering elephant of Asia, this vast sub-continent has quickened its pace. The economy is booming. Tens of millions have been pulled out of poverty. Software and service companies abound. Millionaire entrepreneurs are springing up at every turn. Bollywood is going global and Indian expats are flooding back home. Whats more, these changes are occurring within the worlds largest democracy - a far cry from neighbouring China. But who and what lies behind Indias apparent ascendency?In India Rising Oliver Balch takes the voices and stories of everyday Indians and presents a fresh, vivid, highly personalised account of the changes as they are unfolding.Travelling the length and breadth of the country, Balch leads readers off the tourist trail and onto the streets of modern day India. Through Mumbai, Dehli and Chennai, from Bollywood to cricket stadiums, from shopping malls to rural schools and shanty towns, the book blends the best of reportage and travel writing to get under the skin of this nation in transition.What emerges is a captivating portrait of a country at a crossroads. Old versus New. Global versus local. Indias march into the twenty-first century is full of tensions and uncertainties. But so too is it brimming with optimism and hope. With over half of its billion plus population under the age of twenty-five, Indias future will be written by its youth. In describing their hopes and exploring their fears, India Rising unpicks what makes this vast nation tick and asks where its heading. Oliver Balch is a UK freelance journalist, whose work has appeared in a wide range of international publications, including The Guardian,The Financial Times and The Traveller. His first book Viva South America! Was shortlisted as Book of the Year at the UK Travel Press Awards.

¿Es justo decir que una tierra ha sido "liberada" cuando la pobreza aún esclaviza a millones de sus habitantes, cuando la violencia acecha en las sombras y cuando la ilegalidad corroe toda posibilidad de progreso? ¿Fracasaron los libertadores? ¿O los nuevos lideres, como Hugo Chavez en Venezuela y Evo Morales en Bolivia, estan resucitando aquellos viejos ideales?Equipado con una libreta de reportero y una mente abierta, el autor se pone en marcha en busca de respuestas. Abriendose camino a traves del continente por carreteras y sendas, quita el velo que cubre el legado de los libertadores y husmea detras de sus estatuas y su memoria. Con el fantasma de Bolivar como guia, la travesia aparta al lector de los trillados caminos del turista y lo introduce en los ambitos mas extraños y maravillosos de las culturas y las sociedades sudamericanas. Entrando en los hogares de sus habitantes y en las celdas de los prisioneros, metiendose en las pistas de baile o en las barricadas, Oliver Balch recupera historias no contadas desde el frente mismo de la lucha contemporanea de Sudamerica por la liberacion.

¿Es justo decir que una tierra ha sido «liberada» cuando la pobreza aún esclaviza a millones de sus habitantes, cuando la violencia acecha en las sombras y cuando la ilegalidad corroe toda posibilidad de progreso? ¿Fracasaron los libertadores? ¿O los nuevos líderes, como Hugo Chávez en Venezuela y Evo Morales en Bolivia, están resucitando aquellos viejos ideales? Equipado con una libreta de reportero y una mente abierta, el autor se pone en marcha en busca de respuestas. Abriéndose camino a través del continente por carreteras y sendas, quita el velo que cubre el legado de los libertadores y husmea detrás de sus estatuas y su memoria. Con el fantasma de Bolívar como guía, la travesía aparta al lector de los trillados caminos del turista y lo introduce en los ámbitos más extraños y maravillosos de las culturas y las sociedades sudamericanas. Entrando en los hogares de sus habitantes y en las celdas de los prisioneros, metiéndose en las pistas de baile o en las barricadas, Oliver Balch recupera historias no contadas desde el frente mismo de la lucha contemporánea de Sudamérica por la liberación.