Peter Gillman


Peter Gillman is a British writer and journalist specializing in mountaineering topics. His book, Direttissima; the Eiger Assault, also published under the title Direttissima, co-authored with Dougal Haston, told the story of the ascent of the Eiger North Face in which John Harlin II lost his life.

Early life and education

Gillman attended Hawes Down school, Dulwich College, and University College Oxford. He was editor of Isis magazine at Oxford.

Career

Writing

He became a journalist on leaving Oxford and was soon writing for the Sunday Times, first as a freelancer, and then as a staff member, where he spent five years on the newspaper's Insight team. He became a freelance journalist in 1983 and has written for most British newspapers. He specializes in mountain writing and has won seven annual awards from the Outdoor Writers Guild, some awarded jointly to him and his wife and writing partner Leni Gillman. In 2000 their book, The Wildest Dream, a biography of the Everest climber George Mallory, won the Boardman Tasker Award for mountain writing. In 2016 the Gillmans' book Extreme Eiger, an account of an ascent of the North Face of the Eiger in 1965, won the Best Outdoor Book award from the British Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild

Additional activities

Along with writing, he works as journalism and writing trainer and consultant at a range of magazine publishers in the UK and overseas. He had trained numerous journalists on the award-winning magazine Building. Additionally, he chaired the judging panel for consumer writer of the year at the Periodical Publishers Association awards.
Additionally, he works as researcher and assistant producer in television projects and cinema.
He is a keen amateur choral singer, being a member of both the Croydon Male Voice Choir and the Croydon Philharmonic Choir.

Awards

Gillman has won the following OWG Awards for Excellence:
In 2000, he and wife Leni won the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Writing with their book The Wildest Dream, the biography of Everest mountaineer George Mallory.

Works

Books