Environmentalist and Presenter
Publishing beautiful books is only the most recent of Alastair’s endeavours: in the past he has led tours all over France, guided disaster relief teams in Turkey, worked for the VSO in Papua New Guinea, and any number of other exotic things – all pursued with the same intelligence and exuberance he demonstrates as a publisher.
His lifelong passion in all his work has been the environment. This explains such wrinkles in his career as standing for Parliament with the Green Party in 1992, and vice chairing the Soil Association. His convictions are manifest today in the way our books are produced, and the way his office is run. In 2006 Alastair Sawday Publishing was awarded a Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development.
His books succeed because readers trust the high standards. Increasingly Alastair’s commitment to ecological issues has meant the creation of a Sawday imprimatur for “greenery” – an informal certification of owners’ ethical acumen, in the shape of the Fine Breakfast Scheme and the showcase "green" properties.
These ethics and the worldwide reputation he has built as a travel writer, make Alastair a popular after-dinner and public speaker – inspiring small businesses.
