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About Lesley
Lesley Smith is a seasoned freelance journalist specialising in games, anime and manga and technology. She’s written for dozens of magazines, newspapers and websites, as well as providing omake for manga.
After graduating from university with a 2:1 BA (Hons.) in Theology and Religious Studies, she was still a bit lost regarding a career but had retained a passion for video games and anime that was kindled in her childhood. After dabbling in journalism during her high school and college years, Lesley took the plunge and trained as a journalist and – after three ‘memorable’ months – working as a staff writer and section editor for Dave Perry on PURE PSP, she officially went freelance and hasn’t looked back since.
Now 28, Lesley has interviewed thousands of people, including game designers and developers, manga-ka, directors, artists, authors and voice actors. She has attended hundreds of events around the world from UbiDays to San Diego Comic Con and has led to a passion for traveling. Not bad given the fact that Lesley is visually impaired and one of a small number of openly disabled journalists in the UK.
Through the Eyes of a Journalist was created in October 2005 using Blogger and provided Lesley with a place to write about things that interested her as well as ramble a bit. In November 2008, she decided it was time to take the plunge and transfer to her own domain and relaunch the blog using WordPress.
A fan of lists, some quirky facts about her are included below:
- Lesley hates the smell of almonds.
- She is terrified of zombies and, despite loving horror films, is deeply unsettled by the idea of a zombie-themed apocalypse.
- Lesley doesn’t have a Wikipedia page but she does want one.
- She is registered visually impaired and has various sight-related conditions including Charles Bonnet Syndrome and photophobia. As a result she can be can be recognised by her white cane, nicknamed The Sightsaber, and dark glasses.
- Lesley has been writing fiction since she was ten, it’s also how she taught herself to touch-type.
- Along with other members of her family, she was born with Neurofibromatosis, type 1 (Nf1).
- Lesley plays World of Warcraft a lot and has a Night Elf Druid named Serisa on EU-Daggerspine.
- She loves technology and ‘shiny’ gadgets in the same way other women like shoes.
- She never leaves home without her iPhone.
- Lesley’s tipple of choice is cider, preferably Asphalls.
- Her ambitions include swimming with dolphins and becoming a published author (as opposed to a published journalist).
- She is one of the shortest video games journalists in the UK, standing at a mere 5ft 1″.
- A Pagan, Lesley was born on Samhain. Her family find this amusing, she finds it appropriate.
- Lesley has a thing for stationary and likes to buy blank journals, what gets written in them is anyone’s guess as she prefers to type (it’s more orderly).
- She has been mistaken for a PR person and a court usher.
- Lesley lives with two black cats: mother Isis and daughter Ceri. They are both on Twitter as @isisthecat and @ceridwenthecat respectively. She is currently waiting to be joined by a Guide Dog.
