Eliot Pattison biography

Eliot Pattison Biography

Described as "a writer of faraway mysteries," Eliot Pattison's travel and interests span a million miles of global trekking. After visiting every continent but Antarctica, Pattinson stopped logging his miles and set his compass for the unknown. Today he avoids well-trodden paths whenever possible, in favor of wilderness, lesser known historical venues, and encounters with indigenous peoples.

An international lawyer by training, early in his career Pattison began writing on legal and business topics, producing several books and dozens of articles published on three continents. In the late 1990's he decided to combine his deep concerns for the people of Tibet with his interest in venturing into fiction by writing The Skull Mantra. Winning the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery–and listed as a finalist for best novel for the year in Dublin's prestigious IMPAC awards–The Skull Mantra launched the Inspector Shan series, which now includes eight novels – both The Skull Mantra and Water Touching Stone were selected by Amazon.com for its annual list of ten best new mysteries. Water Touching Stone was also selected by Booksense as the number one mystery of all time for readers' groups.

The Inspector Shan series has been translated into over twenty languages around the world. The books have been characterized as creating a new "campaign thriller" genre for the way they weave significant social and political themes into their plots. Indeed, as soon as the novels were released they became popular black market items in China for the way they highlight issues long hidden by Beijing.

In 2015, Eliot Pattison received the prestigious "Art of Freedom" award from the Tibet House along with the likes of radio personality Ira Glass, singer Patti Smith and actor Richard Gere for his human rights advocacy in Tibet.

Pattison's longtime interest in another "faraway" place, the 18th century American wilderness and its woodland Indians–led to the launch of his Bone Rattler series, which quickly won critical acclaim for its poignant presentation of Scottish outcasts and Indians during the upheaval of the French and Indian War. In Pattison's words, "this was an extraordinary time that bred the extraordinary people who gave birth to America," and the lessons offered by the human drama in that long-ago wilderness remain fresh and compelling today.

Eliot Pattison has presented his work at many conferences and high profile venues, such as the Smithsonian, the Tibet House, the International Campaign for Tibet, Gettysburg's "History Meets the Arts" Festival, and the World Affairs Council.

A former resident of Boston and Washington, he resides on an 18th century farm in Pennsylvania with his wife, three children, and an ever-expanding menagerie of animals.

Eliot Pattison's website

This bio was last updated on 03/18/2019. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.