About Mark ...​

Mark Zuehlke is an award-winning author generally considered to be Canada’s foremost popular military historian. His Canadian Battle Series is the most exhaustive recounting of the battles and campaigns fought by any nation during World War II to have been written by a single author. In December 2024, Mark was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of his work on the Canadian Battle Series and the Elias McCann mystery series and overall contribution to Canadian history, particularly as it relates to the nation’s military heritage. Earlier, in 2014, Mark was awarded the 2014 Governor General’s History Award for Popular Media: The Pierre Berton Award. In 2007, his For Honour’s Sake: The War of 1812 and the Brokering of an Uneasy Peace won the Canadian Author’s Association Lela Common Award for Canadian History. The Canadian Battle Series Holding Juno captured the City of Victoria Butler Book Prize in 2006.

​Mark’s award-winning Elias McCann mystery series has garnered much critical praise in Canada and abroad. Set in storm-swept west Vancouver Island village of Tofino, the series follows the reluctant community coroner Elias McCann. Hands Like Clouds, the debut in this series, won the Crime Writer’s of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award for the 2000 Best First Novel and the third instalment, Sweep Lotus, was nominated for the 2004 Arthur Ellis Best Novel.

​When not writing, this Victoria, British Columbia resident can often be found tinkering around his property in Saanich’s Lakehill district amid 19 Garry oaks that he shares with partner and fellow writer Frances Backhouse. He enjoys hiking, backpacking, cycling, kayaking, travelling (especially as a historian with Liberation Tours), and cooking.

Governor General’s History Award for Popular Media:
​The Pierre Berton Award

The Governor General’s History Awards are administered by Canada’s History Society and celebrate the very best in Canadian achievements in the field of history and heritage. The 2014 Awards were presented in Ottawa on November 3ird by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada. For more information about the Awards and recipients, visit their website at http://www.canadashistory.ca/Awards