William Frej has an academic background and professional experience in architecture and city planning with degrees from the University of Arizona and U.C. Berkeley. In the mid-1980s he and his wife traveled extensively in the mountain regions of Nepal, Pakistan and northern India. He then served as a career diplomat with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), living and working in Indonesia, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan. His photographic work is represented in numerous public and private collections throughout the world and has been featured in a number of exhibitions at galleries and museums. Frej is the author of four multi-award-winning books: Maya Ruins Revisited: In the Footsteps of Teobert Maler (Peyton Wright/University of Oklahoma Press, 2020); Seasons of Ceremonies: Rites and Rituals in Guatemala and Mexico (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2021); Travels Across the Roof of the World: A Himalayan Memoir (George F. Thompson Publishing, 2022); and Blurred Boundaries: Perspectives on Rock Art of the Greater Southwest (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2023). The Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition awarded a Silver Medal to Travels Across the Roof of the World in 2023.