A.J. Hartley is the British born author of the thriller The Mask of Atreus (Berkley/Penguin 2006) which spent several weeks on the USA Today bestseller list and has been published in over twenty languages world wide. His second thriller, On The Fifth Day, was published by Berkley in July 2007, and hit the New York Times list in addition to the USA Today list. In 2009 he published two novels, another mystery/thriller called What Time Devours (Berkley) and the first of a fantasy adventure series centering on an eighteen year old actor, Act of Will (Tor). The second in the series, Will Power, was one of Kirkus Reviews top 15 scifi/fantasy novels of 2010. With David Hewson he is the co-author of a novelization of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, written specially for audio and voiced by celebrated Scottish actor, Alan Cumming. It will be published as a conventional book in spring 2012. The first of a new middle grades fantasy adventure series, Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact, was published by Penguin/Razorbill in Fall 2011, and there will be at least two more books to follow in consecutive years. 2012 will see publication of the print edition of Macbeth, a Novel, the second in the Darwen Arkwright series, and a new adult thriller, The Tears of the Jaguar.
AJ’s stories are driven by mystery and danger but also reflect his abiding interest in archaeology, history, and foreign travel. As an English major at Manchester University he took extra classes in Egyptology and got a job working on a Bronze Age site just outside Jerusalem. Since then, life has taken him to many places around the world, and though he always leaned more towards the literary than to the strictly historical, his fascination with the past continues unabated.
He has an M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature from Boston University, and he is the Russell Robinson Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and works as a scholar, screenwriter, dramaturg and theatre director. He is the author of The Shakespearean Dramaturg (Palgrave/Macmillan 2005), an upcoming performance history of Julius Caesar (Manchester UP), and a book on Shakespeare and political theatre as well as numerous articles and book chapters in his field. He is the editor of the performance journal Shakespeare Bulletin, published by Johns Hopkins UP. He is also a regular contributor to the writers’ blog www.magicalwords.net
He has more hobbies than is good for anyone and treats ordinary things like sport and food and beer with a reverence which borders on mania. He is married with a son and lives in Charlotte. You can visit his website at www.ajhartley.net.