Dan Needles is best known as the playwright behind the popular Wingfield Series which has played across Canada for many years. It was performed at the Stratford Festival of Canada and was aired, in part, on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Bravo Channel. Needles' childhood was divided between Toronto and his family's farm at Rosemont, Ontario. While working as editor for a local newspaper in Shelburne, he created the character of Walt Wingfield, a retired stockbroker turned farmer who told about his adventures on the farm in weekly letters to the editor. In 1985, Needles launched the series with 'Letter From Wingfield Farm' performed by actor Rod Beattie. Six sequels followed, including Wingfield's Progress, Wingfield's Folly, Wingfield Unbound, Wingfield on Ice, Wingfield's Inferno, and Wingfield: Lost and Found. Needles currently writes columns for Country Guide Magazine and Small Farm Canada. His book With Axe and Flask, The History of Persephone Township from Pre-Cambrian Times to the Present was the winner of the 2003 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour.