About
While an undergraduate in the Wildlife Biology program at the University of Vermont, Mark studied and protected soft-shelled turtles for the US Fish & Wildlife Service in Lake Champlain, tracked mountain lions in the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona, and worked for The Defenders of Wildlife on their northeast wolf reintroduction campaign. When wildlife employment was sparse, Mark always found work in a bookstore.
After college, Mark took a position as the field team leader with a research project studying grizzly bears in the Northern Cascades of Washington and the Canadian Rockies of Alberta. The work used conservation dogs trained to find grizzly biological samples in the thick temperate coniferous and subalpine forests.
After the stint in the northwest, Mark moved back east, where he landed once again in a bookstore, this time managing a small indie store in Middletown, CT. Biding his time there, he looked for more wildlife work, which materialized in a position with the CT Department of Environmental Protection studying the state’s burgeoning black bear population. As opposed to the non-invasive grizzly work, this was hands-on. Mark trapped, tagged, and collared black bears, mapping their home ranges, and when winter came, identifying the females’ dens where he returned later to monitor their health and count and measure their cubs.
After Connecticut’s black bears, Mark returned to Vermont to study bobcats and earn his Master of Science in Wildlife Biology.
Mark later pivoted and began to focus more on his writing, working as a copy editor and writer for a small Vermont production company, where he also became involved in the production side of the agency, taking on a producer role in addition to writing. It was during this period that Mark began adapting some of his writing for film. Mark co-founded his own production company with his producing partner to form Kid Brother Pictures. After producing their first film based on one of Mark’s short stories, Mark adapted the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which Kid Brother Pictures filmed and produced in Vermont. Kid Brother has recently finished their third short film, which is entering its festival run, and they are currently in pre-production on their fourth film
As his writing and creative work increased, Mark felt the need to return to school and complete a formal education in writing. He received his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the Mountainview MFA program in 2017. For the last two years, he has enjoyed melding his two careers to produce his latest work, RAVENOUS.
