Mary Doria Russell

Mary Doria Russell is the award-winning author of five bestsellers: The Sparrow, Children of God, A Thread of Grace, and Dreamers of the Day and most recently, Doc. Widely praised for her meticulous research, fine prose, and compelling narrative drive, Russell speaks widely to audiences from universities to literary festivals, libraries and historical societies and professional organizations.

In her fiction, Mary’s unique personal story often serves as the inspiration for her subject matter. In Doc, Mary tells the story of the lawman Wyatt Earp and the dental surgeon John Henry Holliday. As the daughter of Dick Doria, five-term sheriff of Dupage County, Illinois, Mary grew up with guns and cops but she also holds a doctorate in biological anthropology and taught gross anatomy at the Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry before she left academe to write.

Mary Doria Russell has won many writing awards and prizes including the Arthur C. Clarke Prize for Best Novel in 1997 for The Sparrow, The Hugo Award in 1999 for Children of God, and most recently, in 2011, The Great Lakes Great Reads (Fiction) and The American Library Association Best Novel, Historical Fiction for Doc.

In December, 2011, plans to make Russell’s latest novel, Doc, into a series were announced with Ron Howard directing the pilot and Akiva Goldsman, the Oscar-winning writer of “A Beautiful Mind,” heading the project as executive producer.