Leslie Garland

I didn't start out in a career in writing; I qualified as a Chartered Civil Engineer. In this capacity I worked for several years on projects in the UK, the Far East and Africa. During this period I won the Institution of Civil Engineers 'Miller Prize' for a paper on tunnelling. Perhaps my first foray in to writing? It was a pretty dry technical piece. However my experience in tunnelling has given me an exciting idea for a story which I hope will be a lot more fun than my engineering paper and I have just recently made a start on this. Changing times resulted in a change in direction and after qualifying as an Associate Member of both the British Institute of Professional Photography and the Royal Photographic Society, started my own stock photograph library (the first in N.E.England) and wrote for the trade press.

The Internet was new in those days and not very reliable. So an unexpected break in my Internet connection fortuitously presented the time to make a start on a long cherished project of a series of novella length stories, and the first story of The Red Grouse Tales, was drafted. Three more 'tales' followed and I published The Red Grouse Tales in 2016. Since then I have completed a further three novellas and a novel and started winning awards for my writing. Right now I am trying to complete a second batch of 'tales' and am part way through writing a trilogy.

My hobbies include; hill walking, swimming, gym, a bit of running and travelling, which I hope to restart soon now that Covid is nearly behind us.