Frances Gillespie, Qatar-based teacher, natural history enthusiast, writer and author of books on Qatar
My first 'published' work was a poem in the school magazine at the age of 8. I think the thrill of seeing my name in print has lasted to this day!
In my current book, Discovering Qatar, I have attempted to outline the prehistory and history of Qatar, give a brief introduction to its topography and aspects of its natural fauna which have interested me over the years.
My aim is to enable others to share some of these interests and enjoy their stay in hospitable, friendly Qatar.
I was born in 1943 and lived in Cambridge …
… until I was 9. It was a magical place for a child to grow up in: gas-lit streets, students in short black gowns flitting like bats along the lanes. Above all, I recall the beauty of the ancient colleges and flower-filled gardens as a background to our play.
Then we moved to suburban Surrey, which I loathed, and still do. As soon as I could get away, I took off for university to Leeds, in the north of England. My parents were both from the north and I instinctively felt at home there. I married while still an undergraduate, but the marriage did not last.
In 1975, I went to northern Nigeria to teach English, accompanied by my daughters, aged 5 and 7. When I got there, people were surprised that I had come out to such a remote area with two young children and I was surprised that they were surprised -I could not see anything unusual about it.
It was a great experience for the children and we all liked the north and its Muslim people (though not our later life in Lagos in the south).
The children grew up quickly because they often had to face death first-hand and other grim experiences which children in the UK don't have.
We regard Qatar as our second home.
My husband is an architect. He's from Scotland and I'm English. We met in Nigeria and married in 1977. We returned to Britain in 1982 and spent the next three years converting some 200-year-old farm buildings in Scotland into a family home: we did a lot of the work ourselves.
Then in 1985, my husband decided it was time to look for a job again and he was offered a post in Qatar overseeing the construction of the headquarters of the Commercial Bank of Qatar.
We thought we would only be here for a year or so, but he became general manager for our London-based company, Design Consultants, in Qatar - and here we are almost 22 years later! Our two children grew up here and regard Qatar as their second home.
In fact, one of them has a Masters in Middle Eastern politics and now works as a political analyst covering the Gulf states.
I have always been interested in writing.
At school I wrote regularly for the magazine and later founded a somewhat rebellious alternative magazine. I studied English at the University of Leeds, wrote for the students' weekly newspaper and received some valuable basic training in journalism along the way.
After graduating, I attended four years of classes in archaeology.
Later I trained as a teacher of English. When I went out to Nigeria, I started a magazine in the high school where I worked; the students had never seen such a thing before but once the idea caught on, it was very popular.
I also wrote for the Nigerian Field Society journal on aspects of wildlife in northern Nigeria. Soon after we returned to Scotland in 1982, a monthly community magazine was founded in the area where we lived and I joined its regular correspondents.
As soon as we arrived …
… I joined the Qatar Natural History Group. In time I became chairwoman, and although I have retired from that post I still serve on the committee.
For years we attended all the talks and went on the monthly excursions, learning about Qatar's history, topography, geology and natural history from people who were either professionals in their field or dedicated amateurs.
Over the course of time I became regarded as a
resident 'expert' -mainly, I think, because of the length of time I have lived here -and found myself leading expeditions.
A typical day in my life
My book, Discovering Qatar, took hundreds of hours of work to put together; most of these were in the mornings. Researching the photos took as long as the actual writing.
In the afternoon, I teach English as a private coach, mostly for Qatari families. When I first came to Qatar, I taught for the British Council for six years before taking up full-time private coaching.
Nowadays, I don't do more than three hours of teaching a day -I'm 63 and don't have the energy I used to! I have thought about retiring from teaching and working full-time as a writer, but I love the contact with young people. I have known some of my students since they were babies.
Some of the closest friends I have here are Qatari and I find them kind, charming and loyal friends, always ready to offer help if it is needed.
Contact with family is very important for me. I have six delightful small grandchildren from the two daughters of my first marriage and put a lot of thought into trying to be a good, responsible grandmother, even though one family lives in Australia and the other in Britain.
Nowadays, with convenient air travel, e-mail and webcam, it's easy to be a 'long-distance granny' compared to 20 years ago.
My husband is endlessly supportive …
… takes wonderful photographs for my books and articles and is both driver and navigator on our weekend desert expeditions, as I have never learnt either to drive a 4WD or navigate.
A shameful admission, but there it is. As for my kids, they take it for granted that I do what I do. Although when they were younger there were occasional cries of "Why can't you be a normal mother?"
My first book, which I co-wrote …
… was Qatar, published by Stacey International of London in 2000. The next book -which really was a labour of love, because I was not paid for it -was a history of the Doha Players, our amateur theatrical group.
Since then, I have worked on a number of projects for Motivate Publishing in Dubai. The most recent are two books of photographs for which I have provided text and extended captions -Qatar, a Pictorial Tour and Qatar, a Pictorial Souvenir -which will both be published this year.
There are two more books I plan to write: one is a volume of historical photographs and the other is a history of the pearling industry in Qatar.
Less than 10 years ago there was little incentive for publishers to regard books on Qatar as a commercial proposition -now there is.
Qatar, with its rapid development, Al Jazeera news channel and the successful hosting of the Asian Games, is no longer the quiet backwater it once was.
