Mark Lawrence is an American-British fantasy author and former research scientist best known for his dark, character-driven series like The Broken Empire and The Book of the Ancestor.

Born in 1966, Lawrence holds a PhD in mathematics and worked in artificial intelligence before turning to fiction. His breakout debut, Prince of Thorns (2011), launched The Broken Empire trilogy, which won the David Gemmell Legend Award for Emperor of Thorns in 2014. He followed with The Red Queen’s War, The Book of the Ancestor, The Book of the Ice, and The Library Trilogy, each exploring morally complex protagonists and gritty, immersive worlds. Lawrence also founded the annual Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SPFBO), a major platform for indie fantasy writers