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Thomas Lakeman

Thomas Lakeman was born in Mobile, Alabama, on March 10, 1964, the youngest of six children. His parents made sure they all got an education. After high school he attended the University of the South, a liberal arts school owned by the Episcopal Church. Popularly known as Sewanee, the college allowed him to pursue all his interests, as well as helping to develop new ones. After earning his B.A. He studied Theatre in Great Britain and Ireland on a Thomas J. Watson fellowship, then received his M.F.A. in Playwriting from Carnegie-Mellon University.

His first real job was in the marketing department at Universal Pictures, where he got to do just about everything, from publicity to speechwriting and creative design. In 1994 he helped start Digital Planet, one of the first Internet design firms to specialize in entertainment marketing. He and his business partner had already created the first interactive movie press kit (for Sneakers) and were soon designing sites and DVDS for all the major studios, as well as corporate clients like Intel and the United States Postal Service. They also produced the Internet's first fully animated series, Madeleine's Mind. In 1998, Digital Planet was acquired by a corporate parent. He stayed on for two years as L.A. creative director, then took a brief stint at another company, DNA Studio. He left the business not long after the dotcom bust of 2000. He's very happy he had his California adventure...and he's not sorry it ended. He knew he had to move on if he was going to make his fiction career happen.

After four challenging and invigorating years teaching Literature and Creative Writing at the University of South Alabama, He decided to devote himself to writing full-time. Currently he's living on the Alabama Gulf Coast, working on his fourth novel while preparing for the March 2009 publication of Broken Wing. His latest adventure has returned him to his early love of the theatre: next year he is honored to serve as the Tennessee Williams playwright-in-residence at his alma mater, Sewanee. (Author's website)

Bibliography:
Chillwater Cove
Broken Wing

Last Updated:
25 March 2009

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