Mark Fine

For a decade Fine proved adept at uniting non-profit organizations, corporate and media sponsors, and world class musicians such as Sheryl C

For a decade Fine proved adept at uniting non-profit organizations, corporate and media sponsors, and world class musicians such as Sheryl Crow, Sting, Melissa Etheridge, Bryan Adams and Boyz ll Men in aid of breast cancer research, wildlife conservation and other causes.

For these initiatives Mark was voted by Variety magazine as the “Music Executive with 20/20 Vision” and addressed the Industries' Coalition against Cancer on the topic, "Going beyond the Corporation: How Companies Take Their Health Messages to the Public." For his efforts in the fight against breast cancer, he has been honored by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month Board of Sponsors in Washington, D.C, and received both NABCO's "Celebrate Life Award" and SELF magazine's "Creative Initiatives Award." But he is especially proud of his "Paws of Fame" award he received from The Wildlife Waystation for his commitment to animals worldwide. As such, animals always make an appearance in Mark Fine's writings.

Ironically perhaps, due to his dedication in the fight against breast cancer, Mark’s wife succumbed to the disease in 2006. In striving for a hopeful future for his two young sons, he relocated the family to South Bay, Los Angeles. Now bound to the home as Mr. Mom, Mark was another step closer to becoming an author. And as a man needing to do something of substance, to have the people in his life know he loves and supports them, and to do something within his power to make the world just a little better for his having been a part of it, Mark Fine began to write.

As he had reached a new point in his life, Fine took on the task of showing the world a snapshot of his metaphorical backyard. In the process of painting with words his own backyard, Mark Fine has been brave likeWilliam Faulkner in his journey of truth telling – he has simply done it with a much different kind of Southern accent.

Fine has created a world in The Zebra Affaire that tells the truth of his home via the freedom fiction provides, and in seeing where South Africa has been – whether it is in choosing to follow the rules regardless of how nonsensical or cruel they might be, or to challenge the system, we may see a piece of ourselves as well. He puts human faces and hearts into his pages, and as we follow their loves, trials, and conflicts, we find this incredible story of the human condition as it endures some of the most unspeakable horrors.