KAREN EDWARDS

Editor and writer

I am very grateful to be able to combine my passions (music, travel and writing) into a career. For the last 13 years, I have written extensively about travel, wildlife conservation, sustainable living and culture – alongside health and wellbeing – for national magazines, websites and inflight magazines. With a 20+ year background in music and entertainment journalism,
I also regularly put together artist interviews for national newspapers, magazines and websites.

 

Artist interviews, consulting and media training

I work closely with music artists, their management and PRs to write and produce tour programmes, biographies and
media packs. This has meant interviewing high profile artists on a regular basis to put together interesting and engaging content

for live shows and print/online media, and working as a trusted in-house journalist and interviewer at major music events, including
The BRIT Awards, BST Hyde Park, Isle of Wight Festival and more. 

I also work with artists and their teams to prepare for media engagement, through experiential media training.

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Travel and sustainability

In early 2023, I stepped into the role of Sustainability Editor at Wanderlust Travel Media. My first assignment was to put together the magazine's first ever Travel Green List, a 36-page feature on the stand-out regions, accommodation, travel operators and transport providers striving for a more considerate travel industry.

Today, I continue to write the magazine's sustainable travel column as Contributing Sustainability Editor.

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Travelling on my own and as a member of the press has taken me to far-flung places and has given me incredible life-changing experiences. It even allowed me the opportunity to train and work part-time as a guide on small expedition ships – in remote locations such as Antarctica, the Russian Far East, Alaska, Papua New Guinea and Australia’s Kimberley region – where I was able to share my knowledge and experience with fellow adventure travellers. It was during this time that being a responsible traveller became increasingly important to me. I had always travelled in a way where I interacted with local experiences and enjoyed slow, overland travel but I was now more in tune with how important this was to the welfare of communities and the environment. Witnessing the impact of tourism ion nature, climate and people, from Svalbard to Bangladesh, Antarctica to the Russian Far East, expanded my understanding of the potential negative aspects of the industry.
This has inspired me to travel in a more conscious way myself, and focus my writing towards more ethical experiences.

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My travel and sustainability articles have appeared in a variety of publications including Breathe, Cosmo, Conde Nast Brides, Discovery (by Cathay Pacific), Fabulous, Grazia, High Life (by British Airways), In The Moment, Metro, Sunday Mirror, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, The Face, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times and Time Out. I’ve also taught myself the basics of portrait and landscape photography – and my images occasionally accompany my articles in print and online.​

Since 2021, I have been contributing advice and mentorships to up and coming writers, as Senior Journalist for JournoResources​.

I also help travel companies develop and share their journey towards a more sustainable operation,

allowing for greater transparency and a legacy to be proud of.

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Commercial content

With the media landscape continually transforming and adapting, I also commission and write commercial content across variety of digital platforms, with a focus on travel, sustainability and lifestyle. I regularly contribute to commercial divisions of
High Life (British Airways), The Independent (Ignite), The Guardian (Guardian Labs) and The Observer.

 

Book publications

My fourth non-fiction title, The Responsible Traveller, delves into the environmental and social impact of tourism, and offers advice on how to be more aware when exploring our incredible planet. This title was published in July 2022.

The Planet-Friendly Kitchen, The Little Book of Activism, and 365 of Mindful Meditations, were published by Summersdale
in May, June and December 2021 respectively.
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Background in music and entertainment journalism

Having completed a BA (Honours) Journalism course in Greater London, I began my writing career covering one of my great loves, music. During my first seven years working as an entertainment journalist, I had the pleasure of interviewing a variety of music and film personalities for magazines such as Fabulous, Hello!, First News, FHM, Grazia, Bliss, Cosmopolitan (U.K. and South African editions), OK!, Mixmag, More, New!, Notebook, Sneak, Stylist, TV Hits and (my all-time favourite) Smash Hits.

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I spent four exciting years as Deputy TV & Reviews Editor at heat magazine, where I regularly interviewed influential music artists, TV and film actors and authors. My job was to oversee the then highly-acclaimed heat music, book and DVD review pages. I was also fortunate to be a part of the team who grew heat’s website, heatworld, along with its social media channels, learning about digital publishing from its early days. It was upon leaving heat, at the start of 2011, that I took the plunge into freelancing. Since then, I have worked across a myriad of publishing companies - from Bauer and Hearst to Reach and News UK. I have worked as Web Editor for The X Factor website at ITV and Fremantle Media UK, Contributing Editor at Sunday Mirror’s Notebook and launched a website for Microsoft Skype.