Mark’s book about Moby Doll: The Killer Whale Who Changed the World won the 2016 Science Writers and Communicators Award and was published by Greystone in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation.
Mark is the author of two comic memoirs Free Magic Secrets Revealed (Harbour, 2013) and Never Shoot a Stampede Queen — A Rookie Reporter in the Cariboo (Heritage), which won the 2009 Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. Mark is adapting both books for film for Middle Child Productions. A stage version of Stampede Queen (adapted by Mark) premiered at Western Canada Theatre and starred Ryan Beil.
His other books include The Green Chain: Nothing is Ever Clear Cut (Heritage), a collection of interviews dealing with the future of our forests and This Crazy Time (Knopf) written with/about controversial environmentalist Tzeporah Berman.
As a journalist Mark’s credits include writing for CBC Radio, TIME, Maclean’s, The Utne Reader, The Hollywood Reporter, The Huffington Post and most of Canada’s major daily newspapers and alt weeklies (including The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Toronto Star and The Vancouver Sun). He’s a regular contributor to The Walrus, The Georgia Straight, the Tyee.ca and Chicken Soup for the Soul books (yes, really).
He’s the editor of Reel West – covering western Canada’s film/tv/digital industry.
Mark is a long-time contributor to Canada’s original alt-weekly, The Georgia Straight, where his gigs included covering the Toronto International Film Festival for nearly 20 years. His fave TIFF interviews included conversations with Terry Gilliam, David Lynch, Damien Echols, Woody Harrelson, Claudia Schiffer and Salman Rushdie. Other TIFF highlights, spending Rosh Hashanah with Sidney Lumet; talking highs and lows with Tommy Chong, hearing about the origins of R&B with Ruth Brown, and eating pizza with Michael Moore.
Mark is now tired of writing about himself in the third person.
My fave non-TIFF interviews include talking magic with Doug Henning, David Copperfield and Penn (from Penn and Teller); having Spalding Gray mock me because I called his world view bleak; Skyping Tori Amos when she was in Istanbul; trying to get William Shatner to talk about being an icon (which prompted him to call me “a weird little guy”), talking story with Elmore Leonard and getting completely tongue-tied during a solo sit down in Vancouver with my all-time literary hero, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
As a lifelong Canucks fan I also geeked out when I got to watch a hockey game in the booth with Jim Robson and Tom Larscheid, sang “Randorf the Commentator” to sportscaster, Dave Randorf, interviewed Trevor Linden and Pat Quinn and did a profile of Pavel Bure at the height of his Pavel Bureness.
As a lifelong theatre fan my fave theatre interviews include conversations with John Gray, Thompson Highway, Robert Lepage, Stephen Schwartz and George F. Walker.
As a lifelong film and TV fan my fave filmmaker interviews include Kevin Smith talking about Vancouver and about Zack and Miri, Robert Altman, Amy Berg, Jonathan Caouette (talking Tarnation), Gareth Edwards, Jeff Feuerzeig, Vince Gilligan, Sturla Gunnarson, Lasse Hallstrom, Michel Hazanavicius, Neil Jordan, Werner Herzog, Guy Maddin, Michael McGowan, Deepa Mehta, Errol Morris, Velcrow Ripper, Marjane Satrapi, John Sayles, Lone Scherfig, Gus Van Sant, Wim Wenders and James Wan and Leigh Wannell (the year they launched Saw).
I’ve also been lucky enough to interview many of my eco-heroes including Greenpeace founders Rex Weyler and Paul Watson, Ken Wu and Sharkwater’s Rob Stewart.
Because every time I visit a high school I get asked, “who’s the most famous person you’ve ever interviewed” and I never have a clue how to answer this, you decide. I’ve also interviewed Gillian Anderson, Pamela Anderson, Monica Bellucci, Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Neve Campbell, Michael Cera, Claire Danes, David Duchovny, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Whoopi Goldberg, Paul Gross, Jewel, Laura Linney, Gretchen Mol, Viggo Mortensen, Edward Norton, Joaquin Phoenix, Christopher Plummer, Dennis Quaid, Molly Ringwald, Mira Sorvino, Octavia Spencer and Christopher Walken.
And because I understand, and surrender to the concept of search engines, my round table and junket interviews where I actually got to ask a question or three included: Antonio Banderas, Kenneth Branagh, Michael Caine, The Coen Brothers, , Michael Douglas, Will Ferrell, Jodie Foster, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jude Law, Bill Maher, Pearl Jam, Ewan McGregor, Guy Ritchie, Martin Short, Sissy Spacek, John Travolta, Karl Urban, Sigourney Weaver and Robin Williams (for Good Morning Vietnam and one of those dramas we’re going to pretend never happened and yes, he really was that funny).
I’ve also covered press conferences for US President Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin, Brian Mulroney and assorted Canadian politicians you’ve probably never heard of and movie stars like Cameron Crowe, Tom Cruise, Diablo Cody, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Megan Fox, Steve Martin, Brad Pitt and Denzel Washington.
My fave recent stories include:
Mark Leiren-Young hates puppies – Back of the Book
Justin Trudeau rejects authoritarian model – The Georgia Straight
Never Tweet a Stampede Queen – my return to the Williams Lake Stampede – The Tyee.
And a few of my all-time fave stories that are still on-line:
A Social Media Riot Made for TV: This wasn’t ’94. This was weirder, more violent, driven by a lust for digital attention – The Tyee (the morning after “the hockey riot.”)
Congratulations, Preston Manning: It’s your country now, with adversaries defunded, in disarray, or both. – The Tyee (The morning after the 2011 federal election)
Spider-Man when he was Approved by the Comic Codes Authority – Back of the Book