Biography of Greg Tobin

In a recent review of one of his books, Publishers Weekly stated: “[Greg] Tobin writes with conviction about the issues facing the Catholic church, such as the role of laity in church affairs . . . Tobin has forged a solid career by writing with elegance and grace about contemporary religious questions.”

Greg Tobin grew up in Independence, Missouri, where he attended St. Mary’s Elementary School for six years and was student body president of William Chrisman High School. He attended Grinnell College, as a Key Club scholarship recipient, and graduated from Yale University in 1977 with a B.A. in Philosophy. He is currently a master’s degree candidate at the Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology of Seton Hall University, specializing in Church history and the study of the papacy.

Mr. Tobin has been a distinguished writer, editor, and publishing executive in New York City for more than two decades, serving most recently as senior vice president and editor-in-chief of the Ballantine Books division of Random House, Inc., and, before that, as chairman of the editorial board, vice president and editor-in-chief of Book-of-the-Month Club, Inc. In 1996 he won the Time Inc. President’s Award for co-founding One Spirit Book Club, the fastest-growing new business in BOMC history. He has also held senior editorial positions at Bantam Books and at Doubleday in the book clubs division. During those years he wrote more than a dozen western-historical novels. His most recent work of frontier fiction was PRAIRIE (Ballantine, 1997). In 1999 Mr. Tobin published two books with Roman Catholic themes. THE WISDOM OF ST. PATRICK: Inspirations from the Patron Saint of Ireland (Ballantine) is a meditation on the life and moral teachings of Patrick, and SAINTS AND SINNERS: The American Catholic Experience Through Stories, Memoirs, Essays, and Commentary (Doubleday) is an anthology of American Catholic writing since World War II. All three books were book-club selections, and SAINTS AND SINNERS was a finalist for the National Catholic Book Award.

Mr. Tobin served on the board of Directors of Poets & Writers, Inc., a national nonprofit organization that supports writers, and on the executive board of the Northern New Jersey Council of the Boy Scouts of America. A longtime parishioner of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in South Orange, New Jersey, he was president of the School Advisory Board and currently heads the Pastoral Council; he chaired the parish leadership committee for the stewardship initiative of the Archdiocese of Newark. In May 2000 he received the Jubilee Medal Pro Meritis from Archbishop (now Cardinal) Theodore E. McCarrick, for his contributions of writing and service. In April 2003 he will honored as Catholic Layman of the Year by the Holy Name Society.

Now a fulltime author, freelance editor, and scholar, Greg Tobin lives with his wife and two sons in South Orange, New Jersey. His current books are novels: CONCLAVE (about a future papal election) was published in hardcover in July 2001 by Forge Books (a division of St. Martin’s Press) and in paperback in May 2002 by Tor Books; that was followed by a sequel, titled COUNCIL (about a future ecumenical council of the Church), published in hardcover in August 2002 and in paperback in June 2003. He will also write another sequel, the third book in a projected trilogy, tentatively titled CREDO. Mr. Tobin is currently researching and writing a biography of St. Patrick for Doubleday, scheduled for publication in 2004, and has just completed a book on the papal election process, to be released by the trade publishing division of Barnes & Noble Booksellers and Sterling Publishers in April 2003, titled SELECTING THE POPE: Uncovering the Mysteries of the Papal Elections.

March 2003