Gavin Francis (Fife, Scotland, 1975) graduated in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1999 and then spent ten years traveling the world. Member of the Royal College of General Practitioners and Royal College of Emergency Medicine, he is the author of three books: True North: Travels in Arctic Europe (2008, 2010); Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence & Emperor Penguins (2012), which was Scotland's 2013 Book of the Year and finalist for the Costa, Ondaatje, Banff and Saltire Awards; and Adventures in Human Being (2015), winner of the 2015 Saltire Non-Fiction Book of the Year, Observer’s Science Book of the Year and winner of the BMA Book Awards. Live and practice medicine in Edinburgh.