In early 2022, Charlie Walker set out to hike 600 miles along Siberia’s frozen rivers. Camping in temperatures down to -50 degrees, and exploring semi-deserted villages, he hoped to learn who its people are and how they reckon with their haunted past, as well as what the future might hold for this remote corner of the world. But then, on February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine, and what had begun as an adventure, descended into a paranoid nightmare as Charlie began to suspect he was being monitored by the Russian authorities. Upon finishing his solo trek he was arrested and imprisoned. On Thin Ice, is the book that describes his experiences, and juxtaposes the harsh beauty of the Siberian winter with the thriller-like series of events that exposes the dark heart of Putin’s propaganda machine. 

Charlie Walker is an award-winning explorer, author and international keynote speaker. He has travelled over 60,000 miles by foot, horse, raft, bicycle, ski and dugout canoe, in places as varied as the Tibetan plateau, the Mongolian steppe, the Congolese jungle, the Arctic tundra, the highlands of New Guinea and the Sahara Desert. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Scientific Exploration Society Explorer Award winner, and the author of Through Sand & Snow and On Roads That Echo.

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Event starts at 4pm and finishes at 5pm.

This event is part of the Borderlines Carlisle Book Festival.