Books
The Spirit Dog
A soon-to-be-released book for children. This is the true story of the mysterious and magical dog Black, who adopted Steve Bonham and his companions as they walked the High Atlas Mountains to find the sands of the Sahara. A heartwarming and moving tale of adventure and friendship
All sorts of exciting things are planned for the launch of the book including a nationwide tour of libraries and schools, the release of music and a website of activities. If you would like to support this you can preorder the book now. In return for your support you will get:
A signed copy of the book,
Your name, or the name of your nominated child printed in the book on a roll of honour,
A beautiful portrait of Black
A contribution on your behalf to Education for All Morocco rebuilding schools for young children devasted by last years earthquake
“A touching true story about friendship, love and how one dog united a group of travellers on a perilous adventure through the Altas mountains. A fantastic read” Maisie, aged 9
“Dear Mr Bonham, you have a good book going here!” Joe aged 11
“It was intriguing and heartfelt and also it being a real adventure makes it better” Harry, aged 11
This book is for walkers, dreamers, adventurous spirits, vagabond souls, the hopeful, the slightly nuts, the rarely-dismayed. Also wanderers, seekers, sorcerers, and scoundrels. For those who believe in the road.
Stumbling Over Eden
Stumbling Over Eden starts with an idea born on the top of Mt Toubkal the highest peak in North Africa - to walk from the roof of the High Atlas Mountains to the sands of the Sahara Desert. What results is a fantastical tale involving a Krupp cannon, arrest, being tailed by the secret service, the lairs of old warlords, a spirit dog, a lost tribe of dwarfs and an amorous camel. But more than that, it is a story of resilience, companionship, independence, the strange weave of history and the true meaning of adventure.
Steve Bonham is an award-winning psychologist, a musician, an adventurer and a vagabond philosopher. He is the author of A Little Nostalgia for Freedom, A Beautiful Broken Dream and How to Survive and Thrive in an Impossible World.
copies ordered from here include 4 free ‘art card’ illustrations.
Natalia Richards - acclaimed author of The Falcon's Rise and The Falcon's Flight.
This is a "boy's own" - and girls (!) adventure from the nineteenth century acted out and described in the twenty-first century on the doorstep of Europe. In Steve Bonham's account of the 540km walk from the High Atlas mountains, across the Anti Atlas then following the exotic river Draa into the Saharan sand dunes you will fall into a world and people as fascinating and friendly as any fairy tale.
Mike McHugo OBE co-founder of the Kasbah du Toubkal
"moving, informative, unusual, entertaining and …a sort of warning to other middle aged adventurers!"
Robert Twigger - bestselling author of The Red Nile, Walking The Great North Line,
“I know it’s touched my heart and soul. A compelling read of what you can do if you have the imagination to believe in a dream, can dig deep inside to find the courage to make it happen and ultimately trust yourself to come out the other side. Utterly fascinating and thought-provoking.”
How to Survive and Thrive in an Impossible World
How do we flourish in times of enormous uncertainty and in a world in which a rising tide of anxiety and disaster seems to be in danger of overwhelming us? How do we grab the wheel of our lives and steer into calmer waters? We won’t by following checklists and goal setting and the advice of armchair experts. Steve Bonham, award-winning psychologist, writer, adventurer, musician, and ‘vagabond philosopher’ weaves a spell of new research, story, and wry observation from a life on the road to provide a ‘liberation strategy’ towards a more fulfilling life.
“How to Survive …” is challenging, funny, radical, and unlike any other ‘How To’ book you have ever read!
"The purpose of life is not to achieve great things but to 'inhabit' yourself as fully as possible - in doing this you may end up truly great."..
"The gift of all great artists is to find the universal in the specific, to discover the hidden yet expanding resonances in the smallest details of existence. Steve is an everyman, with highly personal stories that chime with us all."
Jason Webster author Duende
A Beautiful Broken Dream
These days, it is easy to forget the compelling draw that the myth of America has had to peoples of the world – a myth that has shaped our cultures; our history and indeed, our dreams.
In his own idiosyncratic style, Steve Bonham throws himself into the dust, the dirt, the moonshine and the madness of what really makes America great.
A Beautiful Broken Dream is a ‘trail book’ of a journey mostly on foot through the great forests of the southern states of the US and then a trip along music road, from Ashville to Nashville and New Orleans Endeavouring to avoid irritable bears, rattlesnakes, agitated natives, over-exuberant creeks, and a whole variety of other challenges, this is a journey into the heart of Appalachia and the Southern States and the music that flows from it. What emerges is a wry, funny, provocative and highly personal view of this land and the ‘truth’ it holds for all of us.
"I let the beautiful chilled waters wash away the sweat and grime of the trek, my spirits soaring in the ecstasy of being alive. If at that moment I had died, I would have died a happy man.
"I read Steve's work with joy, pride and a little envy. Joy in the stories and the characters, pride in Steve for his sensitive and near spiritual accounts of life on the road and a little envy as a writer myself that I continually failed to walk the extra mile. Hats off to you Steve. Go safely. "
Anthony John Clarke - Songwriter, performer and National Treasure.
A Little Nostalgia for Freedom
In his book A Little Nostalgia for Freedom Steve Bonham Invites everyone to consider again their own responses to some of life’s big challenges: why many of us never quite do what we what we mean to do; why, when so often we are comfortable, do we feel restless; how do we respond to sheer paradox of existence and flourish! As he says “perhaps the ultimate question of life is ‘when do we fit in, and when do we fall out?’”
In doing this as he takes on us on a journey through the pirate towns of Morocco, the Atlas Mountains to London, Hong Kong and the Sahara in search of source of and resolution to this our Little Nostalgia for Freedom
Somewhere in the heaven
Of lost futures
The lives we might have led
Have found their own fulfilment
Derek Mahon, ‘Leaves’
“beguiling blend of travelogue , psychology and the philosophy of identity” Wigtown Book Festival
“Bold and Innovative”
R2 Magazine