About Lucy
Lucy Popescu is a writer, editor and arts critic with a background in literature, theatre and human rights. She worked with the English Centre of PEN, the international association of writers, for over 20 years and was Director of its Writers in Prison Committee from 1991 to 2006. The Good Tourist, her book about human rights and ethical travel, was published by Arcadia Books in late 2008. She co-edited the PEN anthology Another Sky (Profile Books, 2007) featuring the work of writers that PEN has helped over the last 40 years. She was Granada’s youngest published author in 1982 with Pony Holiday Book. Lucy reviews books, theatre and film and contributes to various publications in the UK and abroad including The Independent, Independent on Sunday, TLS, Literary Review, Guardian, Huffington Post, Tribune magazine and Cine-Vue, Exeunt and Latineos websites. Lucy currently programmes and hosts literary events at the Working Men’s College in Camden and teaches creative writing in association with the Rowan Arts Project. She is also a volunteer writing mentor for Write to Life, the creative writing group at Freedom from Torture and edited its most recent anthology, Body Maps, published in June 2011. Lucy is a Trustee of the JMK Award for Theatre Directors and a co-director of the Sri Lanka Campaign. She is a member of the Society of Authors and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2006.
The Good Tourist: Behind the island paradises, panoramic views and historical sites there often lies a different story. Using her twenty-year experience in the field of human rights, as well as personal anecdotes and the testimonies of survivors, Lucy Popescu explores the various abuses that often go unnoticed or are carefully hidden from the tourist, from torture in the Maldives, children’s rights in South Africa, slave labour in the US, to execution in Iran. Inspired by the ethical flying drive and the rise in investment of projects to offset carbon emissions, The Good Tourist, rather than deterring tourists from their chosen destination, serves as a practical guide to what you can do after your holiday to help a cause or support a people.
The Good Tourist By Lucy Popescu pub. by Arcadia is out now in all good bookshops and is available to buy online.
‘The Good Tourist is a fascinating, timely and important book, you will never travel in the same way again’ William Boyd
‘The Good Tourist reminds us that it’s the responsibility of all travellers to be aware of how our fellow human beings are treated – at home or abroad. And, as Lucy Popescu makes clear, if they’re treated badly we shouldn’t keep quiet about it. Her timely and realistic conclusion is that if you want to see the world as it really is, then leave the rose-tinted spectacles at home’ Michael Palin
