I took this picture for use in my new book Interpreting Heritage: A Guide to Planning and Practice to illustrate the range of printed leaflets heritage sites hand out. I can’t be the only person who hoards these.

I keep a stash of leaflets, guidebooks, information sheets and handouts as part of a ready reference collection. There has been a positive trend in the last few years for heritage sites to ask for their paper guides to exhibits back, so that they might be either reused or recycled, and I try to adhere to this request – although the temptation to take one for my own research sometimes gets the better of me.

After leading workshops about heritage interpretation, largely in museums and galleries, for years, I was repeatedly getting asked the same question: ‘What do I read next?’ I could think of a few academic interpretive books, some that were focussed on outdoor interpretation and some from an American perspective. Despite all these leaflets, I didn’t have a book on my shelf that I could reach for with a ‘how-to’ guide to planning and delivering interpretive projects. And so, based on my nearly 20 years of experience of interpretive practice, I decided to write it. Thankfully, the lovely people at Routledge agreed it sounded like a good idea and 18 months later it’s published today.