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and updated on
January 17, 2007: |
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Roly Smith is Commissioning Editor for Frances Lincoln Publishing, a freelance writer, editor and media consultant, and the author of over 60 books on walking and the countryside. He is president of the Outdoor Writers’ and Photographers' Guild and a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers.
Based in Bakewell in the Peak District, Roly took voluntary early retirement in 1997 after a 13-year career as Head of Information Services with the Peak District National Park – the busiest in Europe – to concentrate on his freelance career. He was recently dubbed ‘Mr Peak District’ in the local press. Previously he enjoyed a 20-year, award-winning career in daily paper journalism, latterly with the Birmingham Post and Mail.
He was chairman of the OWPG for 11 years before being elected its president in 2001, and an honorary life member in 2006. He was president of the South Yorkshire and North East Derbyshire area of the Ramblers’ Association from 2000/03 and is now a vice president. He is a regular contributor to The Guardian and edited the new series of official guides to the National Parks for David & Charles.
Roly acts as a media consultant, editor and as a contributor to a variety of publications produced by the AA, the Readers’ Digest and others. He is media consultant to Newburgh and Baseefa Ltd, and he is also editor of Peakland Guardian, a paid-for quarterly magazine produced for Friends of the Peak District (CPRE). In April, 2002, he organised the 70th anniversary celebration of the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass, and his book on Kinder won the Alan Ball Local History award from the Libraries Association.
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| Roly Smith is a commissioning editor, a freelance writer, editor, author and media consultant. He has written over 60 books, mainly on walking and the countryside.
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| Roly is Commissioning Editor for Frances Lincoln Publishing; media consultant to CPRE S. Yorks (Friends of the Peak); Newburgh and Baseefa Ltd.
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| Alan Ball Local History Award (Libraries Association) 2003; OWG Awards for Excellence, Feature Award, 1993; OWG Awards for Excellence, Highly Commended (Feature), 1992; Fisons Agricultural Journalist of the Year, 1983; Newspaper Society, Colour Feature of the Year, 1975.
Chris Bonington’s Lakeland Heritage (with Chris Bonington, Halsgrove 2004);
Murder and Mystery in the Peak (Halsgrove, 2004);Enjoying the Peak District (Halsgrove, 2003);Peak Villages and A Peakland Christmas (both Halsgrove, 2002);Kinder Scout – Portrait of a Mountain (Derbyshire County Council, 2002);The Peak District – Official National Park Guide (David & Charles, 2000)Collins Ramblers’ Guide to the Peak District (HarperCollins, 2000).
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| Main areas of interest | |
| The Peak District; all National Parks (UK, US and Canada); walking; access history; the countryside, its natural and human history; landscape history.
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