A retired hospital doctor, the writer has written over a hundred short stories, many winning prizes and some published as a collection in Lost Whispers and other stories. Walls of Words is an updated and revised collection of the writer's short stories. He was seven times winner of the Wilfred Hopkins Creative Writing Prize and awarded 2010 'writer of the year' status by the Society of Civil and Public Service Writers. He has also published four children's novels, five young adult novels and three adult novels, and has written twelve plays. He gives talks and leads writing workshops for adults and children and has led drama workshops in Scottish high schools for senior students. Also a keen photographer, he took a diploma in photography, belongs to a camera club and gives talks on photography. He has published books of photographs. He met his Chinese wife through playing piano duets as students and continues an active interest in music. They are active members of a local music society, hosting musicians from across the globe. They share an extended family spread across four continents, with children and granddaughters in America and Switzerland. Their travels inspire both Oliver's writing and his photography. He has been involved in charity work, once chairing a charity that helped women and children in SubSaharan Africa suffering as a result of the devastation of HIV/AIDS. Currently he and his wife are Scottish Borders representatives for an Edinburgh-based children's hospital charity. When he has time, he escapes into his beloved garden, in some ways an extension of self that gets reborn every year rather than fading into a mess of hollows and creases like the thing he tries to avoid looking at in mirrors.