Leigh Calvez

[from author's website]
Leigh Calvez has worked with whales and dolphins as a scientist, naturalist and nature writer. As a scientist, she worked as Research Director for the Ocean Mammal Institute on such projects as the effect of vessel traffic on endangered humpback whales off Maui, Hawaii and the effects of human interaction on the Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin in their resting bays on the Big Island of Hawaii. She also led the only independent research team observing the US Navy's testing of Low Frequency Active Sonar (LFA) on humpback whales in their nurseries in Hawaii in 1998.

As a naturalist, Leigh has worked on whale watch boats in Massachusetts watching humpback and finback whales on the feeding grounds of Stellwagen Bank, in Hawaii on the breeding grounds of the humpback whale and in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, watching pods of orca whales. She has also led extended whale watching journeys to New Zealand, British Columbia and the Azores Islands off Portugal.

She teaches private writing classes and lives near Seattle, Washington, with her daughter Ellie and their two cats.