Biography
"I don't know that I'm a great writer. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm not. I think I'm a pretty good storyteller, like Louis L'Amour, my favorite author - the kind you might find yourself listening to while sitting at a lonely camp fire in the Old West. If I am indeed something like that, I am exactly what I want to be."
— G. Leigh Lyons
As a young reader, Leigh devoured classics such as Treasure Island, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Louis L’Amour westerns. These beloved books shaped the imaginative escapes he now crafts for young readers—stories often rooted in his own wide-ranging and sometimes scary life experiences. Raised in an oil camp in Venezuela, Leigh spent formative years in Ecuador and Iran—where he graduated high school—before journeying onward to Bolivia, Mexico, and Argentina, working as both a geologist and businessman. His decades abroad gave him a well of extraordinary experiences that he now weaves into his fiction.
Among the memories that left the deepest mark are those from his childhood—moments that serve as his greatest creative fuel. His middle-grade adventure series, Avery McShane, follows an American boy growing up in South America and reflects many autobiographical threads from Leigh’s youth. He hopes his stories inspire young readers to explore, dream big, and embark on their own adventures long after the final page is turned.
When he isn’t writing, Leigh can be found playing or watching soccer, fly-fishing around the country, or globe-hopping with his wife. They make their home in the far northwestern corner of the Pacific Northwest with their two dogs—Delta, an energetic German Shorthair Pointer, and Lily, a sweet miniature Dachshund. Leigh is also the author of Achilles Wept and The Pirates of Xingu.