Chris Walley

I was born in Wales in 1954 but grew up in northern England. I studied geology at university, gaining a BSc from Sheffield University and a PhD from University of Wales, Swansea. I taught at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon from 1980-84, where I met my wife and where our two boys were born.

From 1984-94, I was based in Swansea, where I was a consultant for the oil industry. I did fieldwork in a number of African and Asian countries and wrote numerous synthesis volumes on the geology of different countries. In the late eighties, I began writing in my spare time. I had two novels, Heart of Stone and Rock of Refuge, published under the pseudonym of John Haworth.

In 1994, I was asked to return to Lebanon to rebuild the Department of Geology at AUB and we were there as a family 1994-98. During that time I managed the department, taught and also did research. I travelled extensively within Lebanon and got to know all the major geological localities very well, partly through interest, and partly through setting innumerable student mapping projects. My wife and I were also involved in setting up a large environmental project in the Bekaa with A Rocha Lebanon.

In 1998, we returned to the UK. Needing to go back to Swansea where there were few geology jobs, and fancying something of a change, I began to make a new career in writing and editing, in particular for the Christian market. I retained my geological interests, in particular in Lebanon/the Middle East, however, and led field trips for Wheaton College, Illinois in the Middle East and the UK.

In September 2004 I started teaching again, at Gower College Swansea (Gorseinon), on the edge of Swansea: geology and environmental science.

My wife and I live in an old cottage on the edge of Swansea and are very much involved in Pantygwydr Baptist church. Our sons, John and Mark, no longer live at home but remain a real blessing to us.