Mark Stryker

Mark Stryker is an author, arts journalist, and filmmaker based in Detroit. His 2019 book, "Jazz from Detroit" (University of Michigan Press), was named Jazz Book of Year by the Jazz Times Critics Poll and Jazz Journalists Association Awards. A 2020 inductee into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame, Stryker spent 21 years as an arts reporter and critic at the Detroit Free Press covering classical music, jazz, and the visual arts and winning a dozen national reporting and writing awards, including ASCAP Deems Taylor Awards for profiles of jazz bassist Ron Carter and classical composer Elliott Carter. Stryker is also the author of "Destiny: 100 Years of Music, Magic, and Community at Orchestra Hall in Detroit," published by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (2019). He was a columnist for Jazz Times from 2021-2023. The documentary film Stryker wrote and co-produced, "The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit," premiered in Detroit in April 2024 and has since been seen in festivals in Richmond, Va., Buffalo, NY; Newport Beach, Calif.; and Bucharest, Romania. Stryker has also worked as a jazz saxophonist.