About Fiona

Born in Dumfries, Scotland, Fiona Houston’s career has successfully combined the demands of journalism and business, raising a family, and involvement in local issues, both in Scotland and in America. Fiona returned to Scotland with her family five years ago from Washington DC, USA where she lived for 12 years.

Fiona Houston is the co-author of "seaweed and eat it - a family foraging and cooking adventure." (see: www.foragerangers.com) and co-writes the "forage rangers" column for the Weekend section of the Daily Telegraph with Xa Milne.

Fiona and Xa's foraging adventures have been featured in a series on BBC Scotland's outdoors program - Landward, and in various newpsapers including the Guardian, Scotland on Sunday, The Herald, Prospect magazine and BBC Good Food Magazine. She also works for the Sunday Times Fast Track 100, the company sponsored by Richard Branson to track and promote Britain's top performing companies. She is working on two further books.

While in America she worked for the New York Times and the Scotsman, and also wrote for the Washington Post, Woman’s Day, the New York Post, and the Daily Record. She was nominated for the US National Magazine Award by Men’s Health magazine for a feature article on education.

 In Washington DC, she was immersed in the political culture; she reported on it as a journalist, while her husband worked as a Legislative Director and a Committee Counsel for the US Congress. She also ghost wrote “Peace, Justice and Power” with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide about the politics and governance of Haiti, and acted as a consultant to the US Government authoring oversight reports on programs run by the Department of Energy and Department of State.

During this time, she raised a young family and served as President of the local cooperative nursery school and on the committee of the local Friends of the Park.

In Edinburgh, Fiona is a member of Stockbridge & Inverleith Community Council, and as Chairman of Friends of Inverleith Park, she established and ran a major grassroots campaign that overcame the odds to defeat Edinburgh City Council in its bid to develop one of Edinburgh’s best-loved green spaces in Inverleith Park into an enormous concrete skateboard facility. She is on the Court of Directors of Edinburgh Academy and recently stood as a Scottish Parliamentary candidate for Edinburgh Central.

Fiona grew up in Gretna Green, where her family still owns and runs a family tourist business, Gretna Green Group, which includes the Old Blacksmith’s Shop. She was educated in Scotland and at Oxford University (St. Edmund Hall) where she gained a BA Hons in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, (PPE) and an MSc in Management. Upon graduation, she worked as a project executive for Scottish Enterprise in Glasgow.

Fiona lives in Edinburgh with her husband, and her children Adair (11) and Lydia (9), and her dog, Hoolie. She is passionate about the Scottish countryside, and enjoys hill walking, cycling, and kayaking and plays tennis. She also enjoys dancing and Celtic and World music.