John Gillham has been a full-time writer, illustrator and photographer since 1989, after working as an assistant quantity surveyor and in the aerospace industry. Born in Bournemouth in 1947, John maintains strong links to Wales through his mother's family, a family that included the renowned Welsh tenor, Ivor Emmanuel. These days the author lives with his wife Nicola in Hoddlesden, a village in the West Pennine Moors.



Gillham's first book, Snowdonia to the Gower (Diadem) was described as one of the classic books on Wales. Gillham's work has regularly been published in magazines such as Trail, Dalesman and TGO (The Great Outdoors), where for several years he had his own series 'Way to Go'. He has contributed walking articles and written books for AA publications, including AA Guide to 50 Walks in North Wales and the AA Leisure Guide to Wales.



In 2001 he was awarded an Outdoor Writers Guild Award for Excellence for the book Coast to Coasting (David and Charles), which he illustrated and co-wrote with Ronald Turnbull.