Mark Mendizza

Before winning the Nobel Prize for the second time, Mark Mendizza was a . . . wait! He didn't win the Nobel Prize. Forget that.

He was a commercial writer. Clients said it was some of the funniest stuff they'd ever read, even when it was supposed to be about serious subjects like how to change a bicycle spoke. Mark spent the 70's recovering from the 60's. And the 80's he spent living as an expatriate in the Middle East, where he had the whole region laughing about his recipe for peppermint kabob. He survived the Iranian Revolution and the speed bumps in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. After a perilous escape, during which he disguised himself as Peter O'Toole, Mark got serious. He repatriated and started a marketing company; got married to Sue; and spent the 90's in love, raising Lara. When Wordsworth said, "The child is the father of the man," he had Mark in mind. His latest books are about that experience and the deep meaning of the ordinary family. They're fun. They're touching. And a little ridiculous. Hey, It's family.