Jason Webster is an Anglo-American travel writer, critic and author, the main focus of whose work is devoted to Spain. He was born in California in 1970.
Webster was educated in England, Egypt and Italy. In 1993 he graduated from Oxford University (St John's College) with a degree in Arabic and Islamic History.
His best-selling first book, Duende — A Journey in Search of Flamenco, which told the story of his quest to learn flamenco guitar, was long-listed for the Guardian First Book Award and has been translated into twelve different languages. It was selected to be read on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week.The Guardian described Duende as "a great book" and Webster as "an exceptional writer". The factual accuracy of the book was questioned by a 2004 article in The Independent citing allegations that it did not recount the experiences of its author, but those of a guitar tutor in Oxford with whom Webster was said to have begun his Flamenco studies in 1998.Webster strongly denied the allegations, describing the book as "essentially true".
Webster's second book, Andalus — Unlocking the Secrets of Moorish Spain, examined the deep impact left on Spain — and by extension the rest of Europe — by the Moorish presence and was adapted as a radio play by the BBC.
His third book, ¡Guerra! Living in the Shadows of the Spanish Civil War, looks at the wounds left by the civil war on contemporary Spain. The Times described it as reading like "a political thriller", concluding that Webster "writes staggeringly well".
In February 2009, Webster's critically acclaimed fourth book, Sacred Sierra - A Year on a Spanish Mountain was published in the UK by Chatto and Windus, an imprint of Random House. The book describes a year that Webster and his Spanish wife spent living on their mountain farm in eastern Spain, on the slopes of the sacred peak of Penyagolosa, working on the land and planting trees with the help of a 12th century Moorish gardening manual. It paints a portrait of a little known part of the country, with details of its folklore, history and customs, and with meditations on stories, the need to preserve them and their importance for communities. Webster made a short promotional film for the book in conjunction with the award-winning Swedish film director David Flamholc of Caravan Film.The Independent compared Sacred Sierra favorably with Gerald Brenan's classic South from Granada, describing Webster as "a clever, hugely readable interpreter of Spain".Writing in The Telegraph, Driving Over Lemons author Chris Stewart described Sacred Sierra as "appealingly conversational" and "inspiring",while The Guardian lauded it as "entertaining, accessible and sincere", encouraging readers to "pick up this gentle and moving guide to the discovery of an enviably unspoilt paradise".In The Irish Times, Alison Ribeiro de Menezes compared Webster's inclusion of history and stories in his portrait of rural Spain with the work of German writer W. G. Sebald, summarizing Sacred Sierra as "a blast of sunshine, full of wholesome, comic efforts at old-fashioned farming [and] wry observations about mountain attitudes".
Apart from his books, Webster has also written for the British newspapers The Guardian, The Observer, and The Daily Mail and reviews for the New Statesman and Sunday Telegraph.
He has appeared in several British TV documentaries, including 'The Islamic History of Europe', presented by Rageh Omaar on BBC television, and the critically acclaimed 'Andalusia: The Legacy of the Moors' for Five.
He lives in Valencia, and on his mountain farm in Castellón in eastern Spain with his wife, a flamenco dancer and actress.
