Mark Adderley was born in the
railway town of Crewe, England. Like many of his contemporaries, he
grew up devouring the novels of C. S. Lewis and, later, Ian Fleming and
J. R. R. Tolkien. It wasn’t until he was studying at Cartrefle College
in Wales, however, that he discovered the passion for the Arthurian
legend that has now lasted almost a quarter of a century.
During
his studies in Wales, Mark also met an American woman, Adrianne, whom he married. Moving to America, he got, in not very rapid succession, four children and a PhD in medieval literature from the University of South
Florida. He has lived in Florida, Georgia, Montana, and Missouri, and
now teaches humanities and writing at Wyoming Catholic College in
Lander, Wyoming. He has been writing for most of his life, but The Hawk and the Wolf is his first published novel.
"I've been writing
since I was about eight years old. In fourth grade, however, Mrs. Parker (who had started the years as Miss Waterson, and changed her name much
to the chagrin of every male pupil in her class) wrote on my report
card, 'He should go in for being an author.' Later on - it would be about
sixth grade - I asked my parents for a typewriter for Christmas. In
school, of course, we were asked to tell the class about our Christmas
presents. When I revealed to my class that I had got a typewriter, they
laughed, though they were rapidly stilled by another teacher, Mr. Brown. Later still, Mr. Beach (poor, suffering soul) read my manuscripts, and
didn't tell me what rubbish I had written, but was very patient in his
comments.
"It seems that a plethora of teachers have inspired me
to write, among them Mrs. Parker, Mr. Brown, Mr. Morley, Mr. Beach, and
Mrs. Roberts. I'd like to propose a toast to the lot of them, wherever
they are."
