Luke is a novelist and travel writer based in Wales. From approximately the first moment he could hold (and chew the end of) a pen he imagined seeing the words he had written in books on bookshop shelves (ideally front-of-shop recommended reads stands) and in newspapers (ideally where the reader would be so entranced by the content they would forget they were on a packed train full of grim-faced commuters and be transported to a better and purer place).

A four-time winner of the Bridport Prize in the short story category, his first foray into travel writing was on local newspapers the Western Gazette and then the Orkney Today, where he wrote on such blockbuster attractions as Somerset’s country gardens and seaweed-eating sheep on North Ronaldsay.

Eighteen months travelling overland across the Americas from Canada to Tierra del Fuego soon cultivated him a bit of a reputation as a lover of extreme adventure travel. Indeed, since 2008 he has been writing almost exclusively on wildernesses – with a particular obsession for the Amazon Basin and Andes mountains – and invariably gets sent on assignment to remote places that are poor on wifi but rich in wildlife. 

It was for sure the jungle that sowed some of the seeds of inspiration for his debut novel, Roebuck, published in December 2015 with Urbane Publications. His second novel, Song Castle, was published in April 2018.

On the non-fiction front, Luke writes books for travel publishers Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, Insight Guides and Avalon Travel Publishing, with his articles (mostly on Latin America, the Caribbean and the UK outdoors, on extreme adventure and on culinary travel) gracing the likes of the Sunday Times, Telegraph, Independent, BBC, National Geographic, Which?, N by Norwegian, Morning Calm magazine, Adventure.com and Walk magazine

This site showcases Luke’s writing work and keeps interested parties updated on his forthcoming fiction, non-fiction and newspaper/magazine features. For the especially interested, this is also a space to interact with the writer on his writing (which he welcomes, by the way!)

Of Course, Writing is Not the End of the Story…

Luke has also, at various points, worked as a…

Builders Merchant Assistant, Care Worker, Chicken Tikka Masala Griller, Chocolate Packer, Columnist, Complaints Officer for Borough Councils, Country House Steward, Custodian for Historic Scotland Sites, Data Inputter, Environmental Consultant, Filer of Documents, Flour Bagger, Fruit Picker (apples, tomatoes), Journalist, Kitchen Porter, Letter Writer, Library Assistant, Mail Sorter, Market Researcher, Meat Packer, Mystery Shopper, Newspaper Deliverer, Potato Grader, Press Cuttings Editor, Secondhand Book Buyer/Seller, Souvenir Shop Assistant, Tool Orderer, Tour Guide, Waiter.

They all affected him somehow.