Nicky Leach

Well-known national parks writer Nicky Leach is the award-winning author of The Parks of New Mexico (Sierra Press, 2008) among numerous official park guides interpreting and celebrating the natural and cultural history preserved in western national parks.

Born and raised in the 6th-century cathedral city of Ely in the moody Fen country of eastern England, Nicky moved to the western US in 1980 after an early career teaching in London schools. She cut her book publishing teeth while working as an editor for small presses in California and Arizona.

She began visiting parks and producing illustrated park books for the National Park Service, national park cooperating associations, and park concessionaires while she was executive editor of Sequoia Communications, a packager of high-quality visitor books in Santa Barbara, California.

A freelance writer and editor since 1989, Nicky has made a point of living close to some of the West’s most dramatic national parks, including Seattle, Washington; Flagstaff, Arizona; and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she currently makes her home. Bandelier National Monument and nearby Chaco Canyon are two of her favorite parks in New Mexico, but her general rule for travel is simple: If it has a park, I’m there.

Nicky’s most recent park publications are Wilderness of Rock: Canyonlands National Park (with photographer Tom Till, Sierra Press, 2009) and an extensive revision of Insight Guide: US National Parks West (Apa Publications, 2005; rev. 2011). For more information, log on to www.nickyleachwriter-editor.com.