Michael Asher is an author, historian, deep ecologist, teacher, and an award-winning desert explorer. A former SAS soldier, and a graduate of the University of Leeds, he worked as a volunteer teacher in the Sudan for several years, before going to live full-time with a traditional nomadic group there – the Kababish. He and Italian photographer Mariantonietta Peru later made the first recorded crossing the Sahara desert from west to east by camel – a journey of 4500 miles.

Michael has been awarded the Ness Award of the Royal Geographical Society, the Mungo Park Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and the Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs. He is the author of 23 books, including works of travel, history, biography, fiction, and, more recently, spirituality. He is a contributor of essays to the Essentia Foundation – an organization dedicated to changing the culture through philosophy.

Michael is currently helping to set up Nomad Ways – a co-curricular course for school students in the UAE, whose aim is to revive the values and skills of desert nomads – skills that include storytelling and performance poetry.