AN OTLEY-BASED writer and sportswoman has helped compile a new anthology of women's writing.

Heather Dawe* is one of four editors behind Waymaking - An anthology of women's adventure writing, poetry and art.

Heather, who is a painter, writer, cyclist and runner, is one of more than 50 artists whose works feature in the collection.

The book is described as an attempt 'to redress the gender balance in outdoor literature by inspiring other women to get outside and write about their experiences'.

It will be published on Thursday, October 4 and all royalties from sales are to be split between the John Muir Trust and Rape Crisis.

Priced £17.99, Waymaking is available to pre-order now from Vertebrate Publishing's website at www.v-publishing.co.uk .

The publishers are hailing the book as: "An inspiring and pivotal work published in an era when wilderness conservation and gender equality are at the fore."

*A data scientist who has founded a healthcare analytics consultancy, Heather's first book, Adventures in Mind, was published in 2013 and her second, A Bicycle Ride

in Yorkshire, in 2014 while her paintings and prints have been exhibited around the north of England.