Tony Durrant

I grew up on Tyneside, which I escaped regularly to explore the wilds of Northumberland. In the further pursuit of excitement I indulged in parachuting, which diverted my attention from school enough to gain poor A-level results.

     On leaving university I trained as a print journalist, working as a news reporter across the North of England. I became office-bound on the Daily Mirror in London and escaped to the wild places when I could, qualifying as a mountain leader, hiking and climbing throughout the UK and the Alps.

     I covered the rise of adventure sports as a freelance journalist, contributing to outdoor lifestyle magazines, but mostly the Daily Telegraph for which I also wrote a health and fitness column. I taught yoga on the side, encouraged by the surgeon who sorted out my spine (a parachuting legacy).

     Work took me to many places, including Afghanistan in 2012 and 2014, where I had the idea for my Boer War protagonist Harry Swift (different continent, I know, but to the British Tommy it's all heat and dust).

     Harry has been nagging me ever since to write his story, Veldt Hunter, and to give him a fighting chance I studied for an MA in Creative Writing with the Open University. 

     I live in the Pennine Hills of Cumbria with Sally and my labrador, Harper. I am available for commissions.