Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Finding Gobi
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.findinggobi.com/
CITY: Edinburgh, Scotland
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: Australian
http://www.findinggobi.com/dion-leonard * http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/25/491359719/a-happy-ending-for-an-australian-ultramarathoner-and-chinese-stray-dog * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gobi_(dog) * https://www.thestar.com/life/relationships/2017/06/14/qa-dion-leonard-on-his-book-finding-gobi.html
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2017015707
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2017015707
HEADING: Leonard, Dion
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008 170320n| azannaabn |n aaa
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100 1_ |a Leonard, Dion
670 __ |a Finding Gobi, 2017: |b ECIP t.p. (Dion Leonard) data view (41-year-old Australian who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland; an athlete running ultramarathon)
PERSONAL
Born c. 1975; married; wife’s name Lucja.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, ultra runner, and motivational speaker. Guest on television and radio programs.
WRITINGS
Finding Gobi has been optioned for film by Twenty-First Century-Fox.
SIDELIGHTS
Dion Leonard is a writer, motivational speaker, and competitive athlete who specializes in running high-endurance, long-distance ultra marathons. His tenure as a runner has been relatively short, as he started running in 2013, noted a writer on the Finding Gobi website. Having been born in the mid-1970s, Leonard also began his career relatively late in life compared to other runners. Despite his late start, Leonard has competed and placed highly in several grueling endurance races, reported the Finding Gobi website writer These include the Marathon Des Sables, a 250-kilometer race termed the “Toughest Footrace on Earth”; the Gobi Desert 250-kilometer race; the Cambodia 220-kilometer race; and the Kalahari Extreme Desert Race, a 250-kilometer race he has run three times and won once. “Dion’s drive to succeed in not only ultra racing but life in general is unquestionably one of his strengths,” commented the writer on the Finding Gobi website.
Outside competitive running, Leonard is a motivational speaker who has delivered keynote speeches and lectures at corporate retreats, self-improvement seminars, and inspirational meetings. He has appeared as a guest on major television networks in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
It was during one of Leonard’s long-distance endurance races—the Gobi March, a 250-kilometer race through the inhospitable Gobi Desert in China—when he encountered a small creature that changed both of their lives. A small dog, tan colored with areas of white on the chest and elsewhere on its body, started following him as he trekked through the race. At first, Leonard didn’t pay much attention to the dog, but he soon realized that the animal was not going to leave him. On the third day of the race, “halfway through a river crossing, he heard yelps and saw the dog standing on the riverbank, unable to follow. He knew, as he turned back to carry the dog across, he’d reached a ‘turning point,’” commented Ellen Brait, writing in the Toronto Star. When Leonard interrupted his race to turn around and carry the dog across the river, “I started to realize I had a real deep feeling for her and the bond was really forming,” he told Brait.
The dog, eventually named Gobi after the desert where she was found, ended up following Leonard for nearly eighty miles, sharing the runner’s limited food and providing companionship and inspiration that helped Leonard continue. He recounts the details of this story, and what happened to him and the dog after the race, in Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart, written with Craig Borlase. In the book, Leonard provides all the details on his participation in the race where he first encountered Gobi, how the connection was made between man and dog, and how he made his decision to adopt Gobi in spite of the difficulties of adopting an animal from China. He explains how he set up a crowdfunding site to take donations to support the adoption and to care for Gobi. He points out the generosity of the many individuals who donated and acknowledges that their help was critical in adopting Gobi.
Leonard also describes a tense situation in which Gobi came up missing from the home of a colleague who agreed to house the dog while Leonard figured out how to make the cross-border adoption happen. There was a fear that Gobi was abducted by sources that wanted to hold the dog for ransom or wanted to cash in on the animal’s increasing popularity online and around the world. Leonard describes his trip back to China, to the city of Urumqi, to search for Gobi, aided by volunteers in the city. Some ten days after the dog disappeared, Gobi was found. The dog had been hurt, suffering a hip injury and a large cut across the head. The crowdfunding effort helped with the animal’s medical treatment.
It took another ninety days of waiting, with Gobi in quarantine, for the approval to take the dog out of China and back to Scotland. Leonard describes those days, with him living in a bleak apartment in Beijing, waiting for the clearance to go home with his new pet.
Even with Gobi safely and happily living in Edinburgh, Leonard does not know why the dog decided to bond with him. “It was definitely fate and I’m so glad that she chose me. … She’s brought lots of joy to people around the globe with our story,” Leonard told Leanne Italie in an interview for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
In Publishers Weekly, a reviewer commented that Leonard and Gobi’s story “represents the power of people working together and the profound depth of feeling possible between a man and his dog.” Among the benefits Leonard hopes to see from promoting the story of Gobi is an increased interest in adopting dogs, both rescue animals and dogs from traditional animal shelters. Leonard stresses that adoptions should be made from shelters that euthanize dogs that are not adopted within specific time frames.
In answer to Brait’s question about what it is about Gobi’s story that appeals to people, Leonard replied, “I think people are still searching for the good news, the loving stories. Our story’s a heartwarming story.” The meeting between dog and man drew interest, while the drama of the post-race happenings added tension. Leonard observed that the story drew people together and gave them a cause to support, both in helping to find Gobi when she came up missing and helping Leonard with the difficulties of adopting the dog from China. “I think it’s brought out that kind, loving side of people,” Leonard further remarked to Brait.
Leonard has also written and published other versions of his and Gobi’s story, crafted to appeal to younger readers. Finding Gobi: The True Story of One Little Dog’s Big Journey is a younger-readers’ book for children eight to twelve years old. Even younger readers can find out about Leonard and Gobi in Gobi: A Little Dog with a Big Heart, a lavishly illustrated children’s picture book, and Finding Gobi for Little Ones, a board book.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 26, 2017, Leanne Italie, “How a Homeless Dog Named Gobi Is Becoming a Global Star,” profile of Dion Leonard.
Publishers Weekly, April 24, 2017, review of Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart, p. 80; July 17, 2017, Carolyn Juris, “Dog Days of Summer,” review of Finding Gobi, p. 9.
Toronto Star, June 14, 2017, Ellen Brait, “Q&A: Dion Leonard on His Book Finding Gobi.”
ONLINE
Finding Gobi Website, http://www.findinggobi.com (January 19, 2018).
Dion Leonard
Ultra Runner and Motivational Speaker
Previous
Next
Dion Leonard is a 42 year old Australian/British runner who currently lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. Dion started running in 2013 and has already achieved numerous top 10 finishes in ultra races around the world in the most extreme conditions. Dion has not only competed in but completed some of the world’s toughest multi stage ultra running races across the most inhospitable landscapes including two times at the "Toughest Footrace on Earth" the brutal 250km Marathon Des Sables. Dion has also run South Africa's 250km Kalahari Extreme Desert Race 3 times (winning it in 2017) and the Gobi Desert 250km and Cambodia 220km.
With dedication, perseverance and determination it’s possible to conquer extraordinary challenges whether that is against the desert or day to day life. Dion's drive to succeed in not only ultra racing but life in general is unquestionably one of his strengths.
Dion has appeared on live television; CNN, Good Morning Britain, CBS, ABC America, ESPN, CCTV, BBC Breakfast and BBC World; Live radio interviews with BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Outlook, Talk Sport UK, NPR America, ABC Radio Australia, Eric Zane Show and many others; Dion has also been interviewed by China Daily, The Times, Washington Post, UK Independent, USA Today, Canadian Post, to name a few.
Dion has been invited to speak at numerous motivational, inspirational and corporate events ranging from hosting Duke of Edinburgh awards with Prince Edward, After dinner speaking to 450+ business attendees to presenting to 300+ school children. Whatever the situation Dion is available to engage, motivate and inspire your event.
To contact/ book Dion please submit details via the Contact section.
Q&A: Dion Leonard on his book Finding Gobi
Ultra-marathon runner Dion Leonard’s new book details how he found a stray dog while running the Gobi March.
Finding Gobi, released Tuesday, is the heartwarming story of how runner Dion Leonard came to adopt the stray dog that ran the Gobi March by his side.
Finding Gobi, released Tuesday, is the heartwarming story of how runner Dion Leonard came to adopt the stray dog that ran the Gobi March by his side. (HARPERCOLLINSPUBLISHERS)
Dion Leonard and Gobi, a stray dog that ran the majority of an ultra-marathon with him and is now his adopted pet.
Dion Leonard and Gobi, a stray dog that ran the majority of an ultra-marathon with him and is now his adopted pet. (JASPER JAMES)
Finding Gobi, released Tuesday, is the heartwarming story of how runner Dion Leonard came to adopt the stray dog that ran the Gobi March by his side.
Finding Gobi, released Tuesday, is the heartwarming story of how runner Dion Leonard came to adopt the stray dog that ran the Gobi March by his side. (HARPERCOLLINSPUBLISHERS)
Dion Leonard and Gobi, a stray dog that ran the majority of an ultra-marathon with him and is now his adopted pet.
Dion Leonard and Gobi, a stray dog that ran the majority of an ultra-marathon with him and is now his adopted pet. (JASPER JAMES)
By ELLEN BRAITStaff Reporter
Wed., June 14, 2017
Dion Leonard had just begun the second stage of the Gobi March, a 250-kilometre race through the Gobi Desert in China, when he noticed a stray dog was following him.
On Day 3, halfway through a river crossing, he heard yelps and saw the dog standing on the riverbank, unable to follow. He knew, as he turned back to carry the dog across, he’d reached a “turning point.”
“I went to these races trying to win them but I stopped as I went halfway through a river crossing because she was yelping and whining and barking,” said Leonard, 41, of Edinburgh, who completed the race in 2016. “It was then that I started to realize I had a real deep feeling for her and the bond was really forming.”
Read more:
Stray pup races alongside man throughout seven-day ultra-marathon
The dog, who would later be named Gobi, tailed Leonard for nearly 128 km and captured the world’s attention online. Leonard has chronicled the experience, and the ensuing whirlwind adventure to adopt Gobi, in Finding Gobi¸released Tuesday.
Shortly after the race, Gobi went missing. But Leonard was so affected by the dog, he launched a crowdfunding campaign and travelled to China to find her. He searched the streets of Urumqi every day, with the help of a team of locals, by posting flyers, interviewing residents, and spreading the word online. Throughout the search, tips poured in, along with some ominous threats to both Gobi and Leonard.
But one call, from a local man, led to Leonard’s reunion with Gobi, who was found on the side of the road. Due to an injury to Gobi’s hip — which required surgery — and the mandatory quarantine process, Leonard spent four months in China with the dog, before they returned to Edinburgh together. Gobi now lives with Leonard, his wife, Lucja, and their cat, Lara.
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Leonard talked to the Star about the writing process, rehashing his own troubled childhood — which he credits with making him feel responsible for the dog — and what’s next for him and Gobi.
What was it like meeting Gobi for the first time and running with her?
When I first started the second stage of the race I actually didn’t encourage her to join me. We ran 25 miles (40.2 km) that day and we ran over the Tian Shan mountain range. She stuck with me.
It was really at the end of that day that I thought “Wow. This is an amazing little dog. Why did she run with me?” She was sitting next to me and I was feeding her some of my food. That’s quite critical because all the food you have is all you have for the week. You have to carry it all. It’s critical but this little dog obviously needed my help.
The book outlines your journey in great detail. How did you remember everything when it came time to write?
That was very challenging for me. I think the most challenging part was to reflect back on my childhood. There’s a lot of those situations I blocked out and didn’t want to go back into. But the race stuff was still really fresh in my mind. I spoke to lots of journalists about it and all of the details in between so that was still really fresh in mind.
Also a lot of people in China that were part of the volunteer team gave me a lot of additional information after we found Gobi and I started to write the book. A lot of things I didn’t even know that were going on behind the scenes. For instance, being told more about the specific threats against myself and Gobi and the people wanting to steal her and the people wanting to harm her and harm me. There was a good reason they weren’t telling me at that time.
What is it about yours and Gobi’s story that you think appeals to so many people?
Well, 2016 and even this year there’s lots of sad and bad news. I think people are still searching for the good news, the loving stories. Our story’s a heartwarming story. What’s beautiful about it is it’s actually brought a lot of people around the world together, not only to search for the dog but to follow the story and be involved in it and donating money to bring Gobi home and find her. I think it’s brought out that kind, loving side of people — and everyone’s got it inside them — but with all the bad and sad news it just sort of gets missed sometimes.
What do you hope readers will take away from Finding Gobi?
We’re really trying to get people to help more rescue and shelter dogs. We’re using Gobi’s story. So many people say “We loved your story. We’re taking the kids down and we’re adopting a dog on the weekend.” That’s great if you’re taking dogs out of kill shelters. That’s another factor for us.
Now that you’ve settled back into your normal life in Edinburgh, what does life look like for you and Gobi?
Gobi settled in really well with our cat, Lara. She’s always been the boss of the house so bringing a stray dog into our home was always going to be a challenge with her. It’s a bit of Tom and Jerry at times but they sleep together every night in our bed and get on really well.
Gobi still likes running and we’re now looking to organize a run in Edinburgh to raise money for the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home. We’re actually trying to do as much charity work as possible to use the opportunity to put money back into animals.
Do you think Gobi will be participating in any long races with you again?
Definitely no more 77 miles for Gobi. But we’re sort of thinking about maybe doing some long hiking walks, maybe some sort of challenge. I’m trying to think about what’s next for us but she had that operation (on her hip) so she can’t do as much running as she did before. We obviously want to look out for her.
Is there going to be a movie about you and Gobi?
We signed a deal with 21st Century Fox. They’re talking to screenplay writers at the moment and they’ve had a few chats with producers and actors as well. I think more toward July, August of next year, they’re hoping to go into production.
They love the story and they want it to be told as it is.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Read more about: China
Dion Leonard and his dog, Gobi, prepare for an interview in New York. During a 155-mile race across the Gobi Desert, the dog sought out the the ultra-runner, who seems genuinely baffled by it all. He marvels at Gobi's ease crossing the Tian Shan mountain range and the distance she covered fending mostly for herself for food and water.
Dion Leonard and his dog, Gobi, prepare for an interview in New York. During a 155-mile race across the Gobi Desert, the dog sought out the the ultra-runner, who seems genuinely baffled by it all. He marvels at Gobi's ease crossing the Tian Shan mountain range and the distance she covered fending mostly for herself for food and water. Patrick Sison AP
LIVING
How a homeless dog named Gobi is becoming a global star
BY LEANNE ITALIE
Associated Press
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June 26, 2017 08:06 AM
Updated June 23, 2017 12:08 PM
NEW YORK
As dog stories go, this one about a scruffy little stray named Gobi has legs for miles.
The sand-colored pooch with big, soulful eyes has a book out and movie deal after she happened on ultra-runner Dion Leonard last year during a 155-mile race across desert dunes, over mountains and through yurt villages in the remote autonomous region of Xinjiang in northwest China.
On short but powerful legs, Gobi kept pace with Leonard for nearly 80 miles in 100-plus degree heat, securing a spot in his heart forever. But their dog chooses man, man saves dog story doesn’t end there.
While the Australian human living in Scotland returned home to Edinburgh to figure out exactly how one adopts a stray dog from China and gets her into the United Kingdom, Gobi went missing from the home of a person in the race community Leonard had met during the multistage, seven-day race. The acquaintance was kind enough to temporarily shelter the dog as Leonard untangled the red tape.
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Gobi’s disappearance led Leonard to hustle back to China and join a search for the dog in the densely populated city of Urumqi, where street cleaners disposed of his reward posters about as fast as he could plaster them on lampposts, cars and shop windows.
Looming over the search was fear that nearly $50,000 raised for Gobi’s cause through crowdfunding, attracting media attention in the U.K. and China, might have created a “dognapping” scenario. About 10 days after Gobi disappeared, she was found and the two were reunited, though the dog had suffered a hip injury and a deep head gash.
Together, they waited out 90 days of quarantine in a dank Beijing apartment before making it home to Scotland in January. So what made Gobi, named so by Leonard for the desert where they met, choose the 42-year-old Aussie in the first place?
“That is the million dollar question,” Leonard said in a recent interview. “I wish she could tell me because I get asked that quite a lot and I think about it quite a lot and I have no idea why, whether it was my smell — we don’t shower during the week in these races — or whether it was something else, whether it was a past life connection.
“It was definitely fate and I’m so glad that she chose me … she’s brought lots of joy to people around the globe with our story.”
It was Day 2 of the race that Gobi sought out the lanky Leonard, who still seems genuinely baffled by it all. He marvels at Gobi’s ease crossing the Tian Shan mountain range and the distance she covered during the race. He arranged for comfortable car transport for Gobi from checkpoint to checkpoint after her unbelievable stretch on foot.
Dog safely nestled in man’s arms, the two beamed at the finish line, medals on red sashes around both their necks, after Leonard came in second.
Tough upbringing for beast and man
“Me being able to help Gobi through the race and actually be the person that could step up and take her out of the situation she was in was something I was really wanting to do because those were the sort of things I needed when I was younger and no one was there for me to do that,” Leonard said, explaining his own tough start back in the Queensland country town of Warwick.
It’s a straight-laced, churchgoing, family-focused place that didn’t take kindly to the crumbling of his own home life when he was 9. That’s when Garry, the man he called dad, died and his mother revealed Garry was not, in fact, his biological father.
The news, and watching his stepdad fall fatally ill, sapped his mother emotionally and turned them into outsiders. Leonard left home at 14, choosing to go it alone.
“I was living in pubs, hostels, caravans,” Leonard said. “It was pretty grim. I was trying to go to school and I was trying to work as well because I didn’t have any money.
“I use the negative energy of my childhood and my upbringing, which was very volatile and depressing and an abusive situation, to drive me forward during a race.”
Settled in Scotland
Married for more than a decade, with a great life and now Gobi, Leonard said “there’s always those demons in the basement that you think you’ve dealt with, and when I go to these races I deal with them and I don’t think about those things at any other time.”
Now that Gobi has settled into Edinburgh life, making friends with the rescue cat Leonard and his wife already had, things are popping for man and dog. They’re on a book tour for “Finding Gobi,” out this month from Thomas Nelson, with young-adult and picture book versions as well.
Their story has been sold to 21st Century Fox for a movie and Leonard had enough crowdfunded Gobi money left over to donate $10,000 to an animal rescue and adoption group in Beijing, the Little Adoption Shop. The founder, Christopher Barden, was instrumental in helping Leonard.
Leonard will donate a portion of book and movie proceeds, too.
“Animal welfare in China isn’t governed by anyone, and they’re all desperately dying for donations,” Leonard said. “There are so many stray dogs. It’s really sad to see.”
Dion Leonard and his dog, Gobi, pose for a photo in New York. During a 155-mile race across the Gobi Desert, the dog sought out the the ultra-runner and ran with him. Dion Leonard and Gobi photographed during the race in China where they found each other. Dion Leonard and his dog, Gobi, pose for a photo in New York. During a 155-mile race across the Gobi Desert, the dog sought out the the ultra-runner, who seems genuinely baffled by it all. Dion Leonard and his dog, Gobi, pose for a photo in New York. During a 155-mile race across the Gobi Desert, the dog sought out the the ultra-runner and ran with him. Dion Leonard and Gobi photographed during the race in China where they found each other.
Dion Leonard and Gobi photographed during the race in China where they found each other. Onni Cao The Associated Press
Print Marked Items
Dog days of summer
Carolyn Juris
Publishers Weekly.
264.29 (July 17, 2017): p9.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
In Finding Gobi, which debuts at #24 on our Trade Paperback list, ultramarathoner Dion Leonard writes of
the stray dog who followed him for 77 miles through the Gobi Desert in June 2016. After the race, she went
missing, but he was able to find her again thanks to social media and news coverage. A young readers'
edition (ages 8-12) and a picture book illustrated by Lisa Manuzak (ages 4-8) follow at the end of August.
20th Century Fox is developing the story for the big screen.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Juris, Carolyn. "Dog days of summer." Publishers Weekly, 17 July 2017, p. 9. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A498996867/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=711ef7f6.
Accessed 17 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A498996867
Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big
Heart
Publishers Weekly.
264.17 (Apr. 24, 2017): p80.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart
Dion Leonard. Thomas Nelson, $ 16.99 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-7180-9857-5
Leonard, a marathon runner, narrates the heartwarming story of Gobi, a stray dog he found on a race across
the eponymous desert: how they formed their bond, her subsequent disappearance, and the global effort to
reunite her with her owner. The race, a 155-mile ultramarathon, brings Leonard to Urumqi, China, where he
battles high altitudes, excessive heat, and a sandstorm to come in second place. This feat is even more
remarkable given that he repeatedly doubles back to help the charming stray that has become his shadow.
After Gobi's story goes viral, she disappears in suspicious circumstances from her caretaker's home in
China. What follows is a suspenseful mission to find Gobi conducted by Leonard and a loyal team of dog
lovers. They are forced to contend with Chinese government operatives and shady potential dognappers
looking for a payout, among others, to find and rescue the "little ball of sandy-brown fluff." Leonard also
recounts (somewhat extraneously) his difficult childhood in order to explain his struggle with building close
bonds and to demonstrate the significance of his relationship with Gobi. Leonard and Gobi's story represents
the power of people working together and the profound depth of feeling possible between a man and his
dog. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Finding Gobi: A Little Dog with a Very Big Heart." Publishers Weekly, 24 Apr. 2017, p. 80. General
OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A491250857/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=8185c58d. Accessed 17 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A491250857