Mark Crilley

Mark was raised in Detroit, Michigan, where he began drawing almost as soon as he could hold a pencil in his hand. Graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School in 1984, proceeded to Kalamazoo College, where he was befriended by children's book writer/illustrator (and 2001 Caldecott award winner) David Small.

Upon graduating from college in 1988, he embarked on a series of jobs teaching English in the Far East, first in Taiwan and then Japan, while living in Japan, Mark invented Akiko and fashioned her first adventure, entitled "Akiko on the Planet Smoo." Returning to Michigan in 1995, he found a publisher for the tale in Sirius Entertainment, of Dover, New Jersey. Sirius published the story as a one shot in December of 1995, with a new series, entitled "Akiko". In those first years of creating comics, he produced new issues of Akiko at a rate of ten or more per year, and found a small but dedicated readership among comic fans.

In 1998 Mark was chosen by "Entertainment Weekly" magazine for a spot on the "It List", dedicated to the "100 most creative people in entertainment”. This led to Random House Children's Books inviting him to write and illustrate a series of novelized adaptations of "Akiko" for young readers. The first in the series, "Akiko on the Planet Smoo", was published in March of 2000. In 2004 Random House published his first new creation since Akiko, "Billy Clikk: Creatch Battler." Mark’s novels have been featured in USA Today, the New York Daily News, and Disney Adventures Magazine, as well as on CNN Headline News.

His next creation, the four-volume manga series "Miki Falls," was published by HarperCollins over a period of just eight months from 2007 to early 2008. Kirkus reviews called it "stellar" and the American Library Association put it on their official list of recommended graphic novels. It has since been optioned for film development by Paramount Pictures and Brad Pitt's Plan B production company.

Mark lives in Michigan with his wife, Miki, and children, Matthew and Mio. Mark shares “I sincerely hope I can spend the rest of my life doing just what I'm doing today: writing, drawing, and speaking to young readers at schools and libraries across the nation.”