 About Mark Illis
Born in London in 1963, Mark studied English at UCL, where his first short story was published, and was a runner up for the Whitbread Prize for Young Writers. He also had stories published in the London Review of Books and Fiction Magazine while he was at UCL. He went on to do an MA in Creative Writing at UEA, where Malcolm Bradbury and Angela Carter were the tutors.
Mark had three novels published by Bloomsbury before he was thirty, A CHINESE SUMMER, (which was translated twice and published in America), THE ALCHEMIST and THE FEATHER REPORT. At this point he was still writing and publishing short stories and was teaching English GCSE part-time, doing research for a charity, and then working as a Literature Development Worker.
In 1992 he moved to West Yorkshire to be a Centre Director for the Arvon Foundation. On leaving this post in 1995 he and his wife settled in the area, and Mark started writing for TV and radio. He has written three radio plays and has written for EastEnders, The Bill, Peak Practice and is currently working on Emmerdale. He is collaborating on film and TV ideas with friends.
Mark has more than twenty years' experience of teaching writing. He has worked in schools, libraries, universities, Reading Prison and Broadmoor Secure Hospital and has run workshops in Hong Kong and Norway. He has taught around 25 Arvon courses and has given readings at festivals from Brighton to Ilkley, Cheltenham to King's Lynn.
Mark has reviewed for The Times Literary Supplement, The Spectator and Radio 4's Kaleidoscope.
His fourth book, TENDER, a collection of linked short stories, was published in March 2009. He continues to write short stories and is working on a new novel. He is still in West Yorkshire, with his wife and two children.
|
