Learn to see the world’s great cities with fresh eyes, as bestselling author and pilot Mark Vanhoenacker transports us on a lyrical journey from LA to Brasilia and beyond.

Mark Vanhoenacker grew up in his small hometown, spinning the illuminated globe in his bedroom and dreaming of elsewhere – of distant, real cities, and a perfect metropolis that existed only in his imagination. These places were the source of endless comfort and escape, and of a lasting fascination: streets unspooled, towers shone, and anonymous crowds bustled in cities where Mark could be anyone, perhaps even himself.

Now, as a commercial airline pilot, Mark has spent nearly two decades crossing the skies of our planet, touching down in the cities he imagined as a child. He experiences our metropolises in short layover visits that repeat over weeks, months or even years, giving him a unique perspective on the urbanisation of the world.

In this conversation with author and traveller Sophy Roberts, Mark will celebrate the cities he has come to know and love, through the lens of the hometown his heart has never left. He will explore emblematic facets of each city’s identity, and show us with warmth and fresh eyes the extraordinary places that billions of us call home.

Praise for Mark Vanhoenacker:

‘Imagine a City is a journey around both the author’s mind and the planet’s great cities that leaves us energised, open to new experiences and ready to return more hopefully to our lives.’ – Alain de Botton

‘In Skyfaring Mark Vanhoenacker reveals his passion for flight…the meaningful geography of the skies and the scent of the cities he flies to… This mesmerising book will make you view the world differently’- Sunday Times on Skyfaring

‘A beautiful, contemplative book… What Skyfaring gives is something we need: elevation; another perspective… Normally when I find a volume where prose style and subject matter fuse so pleasingly, I tear through it in a day. Here, I found myself pausing on almost every page, as I absorbed its detail or phrasing.’ – Nicholas Lezard, Guardian on Skyfaring

‘Mr Vanhoenacker, fortunately for his readers, has lost none of his sense of wonder at the miracle of flight itself… a beautifully observed collection of details, scenes, emotions and facts from the world above the world.’ – The Economist on Skyfaring