The Writer
Mark is an author, screenwriter, playwright, satirist, performer and environmentalist/activist.
Prior to 2017 and the publication of his Canadian bestseller, The Killer Whale Who Changed the World, Mark was best known as a comedy writer, a screenwriter and a playwright and his environmental work (like his award-winning feature film, The Green Chain) focused on forests. Since 2017 Mark is generally known as “the whale guy” for his writing and activism on behalf of the endangered southern resident orcas. (See below.)
His latest books are Greener Than Thou: Surviving the Toxic Sludge of Canadian Eco-Politics - a comic look at Canada’s polluted political eco-system and Octopus Ocean - a book for young readers about the geniuses of the deep.
He is also the author of two comic memoirs Free Magic Secrets Revealed and Never Shoot a Stampede Queen — A Rookie Reporter in the Cariboo, which won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. His other books include The Green Chain: Nothing is Ever Clear Cut, a collection of interviews dealing with the future of our forests and This Crazy Time written with/about controversial environmentalist Tzeporah Berman.
He has six books for young readers - three about whales, two about sharks - Sharks Forever and Big Sharks, Small World (for babies) and one about octopuses. His seventh book for young readers - One Ocean: Seven Ways to Save the Seas arrives in bookstores in Spring, 2026 and is available for pre-order now.
As a journalist Mark has written for TIME, Maclean’s, The Hollywood Reporter, The Walrus and most of Canada’s daily newspapers.
As a playwright Mark’s latest play, Playing Shylock, starring Saul Rubinek as Saul Rubinek (sort of) debuted at Toronto’s Canadian Stage in 2024 and is receiving its American premiere in New York at the Polonsky Shakespeare Centre in October, 2025.
His comedy, Bar Mitzvah Boy, debuted in 2018 at Pacific Theatre in Vancouver. The US premiere was at the Chester Theatre in Mass. His plays have been produced throughout North America and also staged in Europe and Australia. Shylock has been translated into French, Czech and Dutch.
He is currently writing a new play about endangered species for Green Thumb Theatre for young audiences.
Mark wrote and co-starred in the EarthVision award-winning TV special Greenpieces: The World’s First Eco-Comedy, featuring his comedy duo Local Anxiety. He has written over a hundred hours of television – including the season one finale and season two opener of the Netflix live action/animated series, ReBoot: The Guardian Code.
Mark in Wikipedia
“The Whale Guy”
Mark consulted on and wrote the Royal BC Museum’s popular exhibit: Orcas: Our Shared Future – currently touring the world. He has been chasing a whale named Moby Doll, longer than Ahab chased Moby Dick.
He has hosted the environmental podcast Skaana since 2017. Guests have included David Suzuki, Paul Watson, Carl Safina, Wade Davis, Lori Marino, Daniel Pauly and Frans de Waal.
His 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.
He has written three orca books for young readers: Orcas Everywhere, Orcas of the Salish Sea and Big Whales, Small World.
He is in post-production on a feature documentary he’s writing about Moby – the first orca displayed in captivity and the past, present and future of the endangered southern resident orcas, for Middle Child Films.
He directed and wrote The Hundred-Year-Old Whale, a documentary about the matriarch of the southern resident orcas that won the 2018 Writers Guild of Canada Award for Documentary.
His radio documentary for CBC’s Ideas Moby Doll: The Killer Whale that Changed the World received a Webster Award for “Best Radio Documentary.”
He was also a finalist for a National Magazine Award for Best Science, Technology & Environmental Writing for his feature on Moby Doll for The Walrus.
He has written three books about whales for Orca – the all ages book Orcas Everywhere (winner of the 2020 City of Victoria Children’s Book Award); Orcas of the Salish Sea and Big Whales, Small World.
He has also written two books about sharks - Sharks Forever: The Mystery and History of the Planet’s Perfect Predator and Big Sharks, Small World - and one about octopuses - Octopus Ocean Geniuses of the Deep. All are published by Orca Book Publishers.