Clive Cussler

American adventure novelist Clive Cussler was born July 15, 1931 in Illinois. He enlisted in the US Air Force during the Korean War. During his service in the Air Force he was promoted to Sergeant and worked as an aircraft mechanic and flight engineer for the Military Air Transport Service. He was also a successful amateur marine archaeologist.

His writing career began in 1965 when his wife took a job working nights for the local police department in California. After tucking his kids into bed he had spare time so he began writing. His most famous creation is the marine engineer, government agent, navigator and treasure hunter Dirk Pitt. After military service, he worked in advertising, first as a copywriter and later as a creative director. Clive Cussler produced radio and television commercials, many of which won international awards including an award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Following the publication in 1996 of Clive Cussler’s first non-fiction work, The Sea Hunters, he was awarded a Doctor of Letters degree in 1997 by the Board of Governors of the State University of New York Maritime College who accepted the work in lieu of a Ph.D. thesis. This was the first time in the college’s 123-year history that such a degree had been awarded.

Clive Cussler has had more than 17 consecutive titles reach the New York Times fiction best-seller books list.