Gloria Wilson was born in Surrey but spent her childhood in the Yorkshire fishing village of Staithes. She studied at Durham University under Victor Pasmore and Kenneth Rowntree and gained a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. She has written eight books on fishing craft of the British Isles, and has written extensively for maritime journals including Classic Boat, Fishing News, and Maritime Life and Traditions.All her writings are based on her own original fieldwork and illustrated with her own photographs and drawings. Her photographs have been exhibited at the National Maritime Museum in London, and prints of her drawings have been sold there and at the Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther. In 2004 she contributed to the TV documentary and DVD The Last Fishermen, produced by Charles Bowden.Gloria is the daughter of the painter Lilian Colbourn, whose work had a solo exhibition at the Messum Gallery in London's Cork Street in 2004. Gloria's own work appeared on the gallery's website the following year as part of the Elemental North exhibition.Gloria lived in Scotland for some years, but now lives and works in the noth-east of England.