MARK LEIREN-YOUNG is an author, screenwriter, playwright, satirist, performer and environmentalist. His book about Moby Doll: The Killer Whale Who Changed the World won the 2016 Science Writers and Communicators Award. He has three new children's books - Orcas Everywhere, Orcas of the Salish Sea and Big Whales, Small World. He hosts the popular environmental podcast Skaana.
Mark is also the author of two comic memoirs Free Magic Secrets Revealed and Never Shoot a Stampede Queen — A Rookie Reporter in the Cariboo, which won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour.
His other books include The Green Chain: Nothing is Ever Clear Cut, a collection of interviews dealing with the future of our forests and This Crazy Time written with/about controversial environmentalist Tzeporah Berman.
Mark directed and wrote The Hundred-Year-Old Whale, a documentary about the matriarch of the southern resident orcas that won the 2018 Writers Guild of Canada Award for Best Documentary. 
As a journalist Mark has written for TIME, Maclean’s, The Hollywood Reporter, The Walrus and most of Canada’s daily newspapers.
As a playwright Mark’s latest comedy, Bar Mitzvah Boy, debuted in 2018 at Pacific Theatre in Vancouver. The US premiere was at the Chester Theatre in Mass. His plays have been produced throughout North America and also staged in Europe and Australia. Shylock has been translated into French, Czech and Dutch. 
Mark wrote and co-starred in the EarthVision award-winning TV special Greenpieces: The World’s First Eco-Comedy, featuring his comedy duo Local Anxiety. He has written over a hundred hours of television –  include recent episodes of the Netflix live action/animated series, ReBoot: The Guardian Code.