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Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent is a record-breaking, award winning adventurer, writer and broadcaster specialising in telling environmental and humanitarian stories from remote parts of the world.
Prior to 2018, Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent worked as a freelance television producer, having worked on BBC’s World’s Most Dangerous Roads, ITV’s Tom Hardy’s Poaching Wars, Joanna Lumley’s India and Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road Adventure.
Antonio has journeyed to remote parts of the world and shared her travels, including trips to Vietnam, Laos, northeastern India, Thailand and Russia.
She is a regular contributor to publications including The Telegraph, The Guardian and has produced documentaries for Radio 4 on subjects as diverse as snow leopards, the Black Mountains, the Vietnam War, community conservation in Nagaland and traveller communities in the UK.
Antonia has delivered over 100 talks – including at the Royal Geographical Society, the Financial Times Festival, the Kendal Mountain Festival and the Cheltenham Festival – where she recounts tales of her unique travels and adventures.
Antonia is also the co-founder and director of the travel company Silk Road Adventures.
Contact Great British Speakers today to book award winning adventurer, writer and broadcaster Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent for your next event.
In 2019 she was the recipient of the Royal Geographical Society’s Neville Shulman Challenge Award, and spent two months exploring the Naga tribal territories of Northeast India and Myanmar.
In 2016 Anotonia spent three months exploring the remote Northeast Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Travelling by foot and motorcycle, she spent time with the Idu Mishmi, Adi, and Monpa tribes. Her experience was turned into a book Land of the Dawn-lit Mountains, which was shortlisted for the 2018 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards.
In 2013 Antonia took a trip through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia following the remains of the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Vietnam, a journey she took on a Honda Cub motorcycle. This was her first major solo adventure. She published her book recounting the journey A Short Ride in the Jungle the following year.
In 2005 drove an auto rickshaw from Bangkok to Brighton with her friend Jo Huxster. Their 98-day, 12,561 mile journey took them across 12 countries, including China, Kazakhstan and Russia. The successful trip raised £50,000 for the mental health charity MIND and broke the Guinness World Record for the longest ever journey by auto-rickshaw.
Antonia has published three books:
2007: Tuk tuk to the Road: Two Girls, Three Wheels, 12,500 miles.
2014: A Short Ride in the Jungle: Motorcycling the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
2017: Land of the Dawn-lit Mountains: A Journey Across India’s Forgotten Frontier.
Antonia’s words and pictures have appeared in The Guardian, The Financial Times, The Telegraph, Geographical, and BBC Wildlife and she has presented a number of documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, on subjects as diverse as snow leopards, The Black Mountains, the Vietnam War, community conservation in Nagaland and traveller communities in the UK.
During her trips in remote places, Antonio has reported for Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent, with a number of her stories being featured on Radio 4’s Pick of the Week.
Closer to home, Antonia produced a documentary on the UK’s housing crisis which was a pick of the week in The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Times, with the Times calling it ‘thoughtful and thought-provoking.’
Since 2020 Antonia has increasingly focused on stories about indigenous rights, conservation, habitat loss and the climate and ecological emergency, whilst always keeping in mind Susan Sontag’s advice: ‘Let the dedicated activist never overshadow the dedicated servant of literature – the matchless storyteller.’