L. Peat O'Neil

L. Peat O'Neil is an author, educator and travel journalist. O'Neil started a solo travel career in high school, staying in youth hostels and building a global network of travel contacts. The author's travel writing career is discussed in an interview with blogger and writer Rolf Potts. Among other titles, O'Neil is the author of Travel Writing: See the World-Sell the Story and a co-author of Making Waves.

Youth

L. Peat O'Neil grew up near Washington, DC on a modest family farm near Sandy Spring producing Christmas trees, eggs, honey and organic vegetables. O'Neil and family still keep bees. O'Neil's mother taught fine art and art history at Sandy Spring Friends School and during WWII worked in photo reconnaissance with the WAAF. A maternal aunt married Bolesaw Michal Gladych who is O'Neil's Godfather. O'Neil's father, an architect, constructed topographic feature models used in RAF briefings in England. A grandfather, Harold R. Peat was an author and lecturer. A grandmother, Louisa Watson Small Peat was an editor and author.

Epidemiology

During the 1970s, Peat O'Neil managed research project funding for the Department Of Preventive Medicine in the U of T Faculty of Medicine and collaborated on a pioneering medical textbook, Prevention in Clinical Practice. The author's education includes years at the School of Business Administration, Georgetown University, York University and the University of Toronto which awarded a BA English degree.

Artist

O'Neil studied painting at the Corcoran College of Art and with other artists, including Eliot O'Hara, who occasionally offered watercolor workshops in Maryland after his painting school burned. A lifelong philatelist, O'Neil is an ACTIVE participant in global Mail artist. O'Neil participated in art collaboration projects such as Ryosuke Cohen's Brain Cell and G.A. Cavellini's archive. Peat O'Neil's art works have appeared in painting exhibitions at the National Museum of Women in the Arts and other venues.

Journalist

As a journalist and daily operations manager in the Style Department of the Washington Post newsroom for nearly two decades, O'Neil wrote music reviews, health squibs, community events columns, religion news and technology pieces. However, Peat O'Neil is best known for travel articles produced for dozens of other newspapers, magazines, websites and literary journals. In search of adventure and following the French GR 65 and other footpaths of the Chemin de St-Jacques, during 2001 O'Neil walked across France alone through the Pyrenees Mountains from Hendaye on the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea.

Online education and new media

An early adapter in online education, O'Neil began teaching online in 1997 with UCLA and developed online curricula for the writing program of the USDA Graduate School. After joining the U.S. Department of State in 2004, O'Neil served in Mexico and China. O'Neil currently collaborates with the Knowledge Management team in the State Department's Office of eDiplomacy.