When Mark Tompkins wrote his debut novel, The Last Days of Magic, it was natural for him to combine his passions for religious history and mythology. Years ago, while lost on the back roads of County Clare, Ireland, he found the genesis of a storyline – the legend of Red Mary – framed on the wall of a small castle. Following this early inspiration, he embarked on the rigorous historical, biblical, and geographic research necessary to construct a fictional world that would meld myth with historical events and characters.
A lifelong writer and patron of the literary arts, Mark founded the Aspen Writers’ Network and serves on the board of the Aspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute. His poetry has appeared in publications worldwide including: Grain Magazine, Parabola, Photovision, and Leading Edge Review. He has appeared numerous times on National Public Radio (NPR) discussing the creative process and been a guest lecturer on creativity at Texas A&M University.
Mark’s black and white photography is in the permanent collection of the Chinese National Photography Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. He received a Certificate of Merit from Prix de la Photographie, Paris in 2008, and was a featured photographer at the Lishui Photo Festival at the invitation of the Chinese Government in 2010. Also in 2010, Mark photographed the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake on assignment for the Wall Street Journal.
Of Irish ancestry, Mark Tompkins was born in Texas, and raised in Canada, England, and New Zealand before returning to America for University. His success as an entrepreneur now allows him to write fulltime. He and his family split their time between Aspen, Boston, and Houston. His wife is a research physician whose work focuses on Haiti.