User:Sally hadden/sandbox

A Californian by birth, Clark grew up with a father who worked at Northrup Aircraft and a mother who worked as an attorney. Gifted at chess, Clark became the 1986 national chess champion for students in grade three or below, defeating some 500 competitors. A graduate of community college at age 13, Clark entered the University of California, Los Angeles the same year and graduated at age 17 with a B.A. in philosophy. He received a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2004. Before and after his journalism training, Clark worked his way around the globe in a variety of industries. In the Spanish movie FishFire, filmed in Spain (director: Serafine Klarwein), Clark operated the microphone boom. In Beijing, he documented the punk scene while on a Stanton Avery China Adventure Program grant (awarded by the Durfee Foundation) with noted American photographer Stacy Kranitz. His experiences in Beijing later provided background for his novel The Zero Season (Penguin SEA 2022).

As a journalist, Clark has written first-hand accounts that highlight modern culture with an international flair. Through essays contributed to The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Review of Books, LA Weekly. and other publications, Clark has revealed social tensions through the lives of colorful individuals: a religious leader convicted as a sex offender, a New Orleans dreamer buried by Hurricane Katrina reborn in Los Angeles, and a comic memoir of being a 30-something in a retirement community. His has filed articles and long form essays from the U.S., the Dominican Republic, Europe, and Asia.

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