A Little Bit About Mark Walma

Mark earned a BA and an MA in English Literature from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He spent his five years in University writing for the student newspaper, the Silhouette, doing colour commentary on the radio broadcasts of Mac football and basketball (both men's and women's), and playing DJ on the school's radio station, CFMU. He served as the Silhouette's Sports Editor for one year and also had paying gigs preparing media releases for the University's Athletic Department, creating the first handbook for the McMaster Association of Part-time Students and writing reviews of all kinds for local arts magazines in Hamilton.

On the creative side, Mark wrote and published a number of poems and short stories in the Hamilton area while attending University.

Mark with his puppy Marlee
After completing his Masters, Mark took a job as Sports Reporter and Photographer with the Lindsay Daily Post newspaper. He later moved on to become the Associate Editor for Town Publishing Group in Hamilton, publishers of Hamilton this month and Hamilton Business Report magazines, before taking the position of Senior Reporter for the Cambridge Times newspaper.

Mark then decided to change careers and attended law school at the University of Toronto. While in law school, Mark served as a Provincial Court Prosecutor at Old City Hall court house in Toronto. He then articled at the law firm of Agro, Zaffiro, Parente, Orzel and Baker in Hamilton before setting up his own law shop, Fazakas, Walma, with his good friend Derek Fazakas, in the west end of Hamilton. While building up a general practice of law, Mark also wrote a very successful text book called Advanced Residential Real Estate Transactions, published in 2000 by Emond Montgomery Publishing in Toronto. The success of that book led to co-author gigs on two more texts, one on corporate law and procedure and the other on police powers, both published by Emond Montgomery. In 2004, the second edition of Advanced Residential Real Estate Transactions was released.

Mark also continued to write creatively during that time, taking courses in the Certificate in Writing program at McMaster University and winning second prize in a national short story contest. It was at this time that the character, Phillip Gold, was born as Mark began to write his first mystery novel. He has now completed two Phillip Gold novels, excerpts of which are available to your review under the "Fiction" tab, as well as numerous short stories and other creative works.

After five years of practicing law, Mark moved into the field of human rights in the university sector, a career he continues to pursue today. Mark taught a course in mystery writing in McMaster's Certificate in Writing program, then taught an abbreviated version of the course at the University of Western Ontario. He has also taught a course in business writing to the leaders and managers of the Ontario division of a large national corporation.

If you think Mark might be able to help you with a creative project, please contact us for more information and fees at mark.walma@gmail.com.