Marie’s writing
I write for fun, as well as for work.
In 2010 I won a national travel-writing competition with Bradt Travel Guides and the Independent on Sunday, which opened doors for me to write travel guidebooks and press articles.
Below you will find a selection of my personal writing: mainly about travel and often about Shropshire and the Midlands, UK. I’m open to commissions.
“Over the past year we have had winning entries from writers who have climbed the Himalayas, sailed around the coast of New Zealand, danced in Connemara and zip-lined through the treetops in Costa Rica. Marie Kreft drove from Birmingham to the Welsh border. That, with her gift for telling the tale, was enough”
- Matthew Kerr, Telegraph.
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Books
Two editions of Shropshire (Slow Travel) for Bradt Travel Guides (2016 and 2020) - and I'm currently working on the third edition
Chapter in Kidding Around: Tales of Travel with Children for Bradt Travel Guides (2019) - with foreword by Dervla Murphy
Prize-winning story in Travel Write: Select entries from 20 years of the Bradt travel-writing competitionfor Bradt Travel Guides (2021)
“An excellent guidebook packed to bursting with information and painstakingly gathered detail which will have not only visitors but also natives of the county wanting to get out there and explore.”
Shropshire Review -
Selected print
‘On Location: Ludlow’ for National Geographic Traveller – Food (reprinted by National Geographic as ‘Where to eat in Ludlow, Shropshire’)
‘Discover the Malvern Hills and Worcestershire’ for BBC Countryfile Magazine (republished online by BBC Countryfile as ‘Guide to the Malvern Hills’)
‘Discover the Heart of England’ for BBC Countryfile Magazine
‘Discover Shropshire’ for BBC Countryfile Magazine
‘Have bump can still fly’ for Motherhood (Singapore)
‘Pregnancy flying myths, busted’ for Motherhood
‘Across the Atlantic to another Yarmouth’ for the Eastern Daily Press
A prize-winner’s tale about the giants of Malta for the Independent on Sunday
‘Rumia: a love story’ for the Irish Independent
‘Happy returns to the weekend world’ for the Telegraph (one of the top five ‘Just Back’ entries of that year)
‘In search of Kunegunda: a journey to the past in a Polish county churchyard’ for the Independent on Sunday
‘The long way home’ for Frequent Traveller (Singapore)
‘Marie in Singapore’ column for Eastern Daily Press
“A real narrative, which travel writing too often misses; a people-story, as well as place; touching and honestly written.” Matthew Parris, writer and broadcaster on my winning entry for the Bradt / Independent on Sunday travel-writing competition.
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Selected online
‘The best hotels in Shropshire’ for the Independent
‘I was a judge in the Shropshire cream tea trail: here’s what happened’ for Visit Shropshire Hills
‘Finding the plot with Shropshire Archives’ for Caring For God’s Acre
‘Onsen bathing in Japan’ for the Good Spa Guide
‘The story behind Slow Travel Shropshire’ for Visit Shropshire Hills
‘Rain Gauge’ (flash fiction) for Double Espresso
‘Norfolk, England: Five family memories for the making’ for Real Family Travel digital magazine
‘Escaping museum legs’ for Essential Travel
Book review of Edith & I by Elizabeth Gowing (archived blog post)
Pas-de-Calais, a cheat’s holiday (archived blog post)
Herefordshire with a babe in arms (archived blog post)
Searching for Shuttle: whale watching in Nova Scotia (archived blog post)
Up in the air: travels as a Hollywood producer (interview with Ned Dowd)
“This writer’s unusual snapshot from her travels was told in a lively way with good use of dialogue and a neat punch line.” Kate Simon, travel editor, Independent on Sunday