About Brian Trent
Brian Trent was born on September 18 in Waterbury, Connecticut. His first experience with literature was when his mother would read to him from a lavishly-illustrated edition of the 1001 Tales of the Arabian Nights. It was the beginning of his fascination with history, mythology, and adventure. From a very early age, Trent was an obsessively voracious reader and, very quickly, began writing and illustrating his own stories. From crayons to his first typewriter (a blue metallic Brother 11), he ascended through levels of technological evolution, moving to an electronic typewriter and then to the computer he swears by. He never decided to be a writer. It decided him.
Trent attended college at Teikyo Post University, where he majored in English and Philosophy. It was there he formed a circle of devoted, lifelong friends including actor Gary Ploski and screenwriting partner Marty Lang. His passion for the written word continued finding new forms of expression; Trent’s first major essays were published in The Humanist magazine, on such diverse subjects as longevity research, civil liberties, history, censorship, and the humanities.
In 1999, Trent wrote and produced a play entitled Remembering Hypatia for the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Connecticut. Many of his college friends discovered they had been cast in it. During rehearsals, he began expanding the script into a novelized format. In 2005, he financed its publication and had the good fortune of seeing audiences embrace the work.
Writer’s Digest called Remembering Hypatia “An absolutely wonderful historical fiction novel with an almost lyrical rhythm to the writing. Hypatia and her contemporaries are captivating.” The book has since garnered acclaim from the Yale Bookstore Author Series and NPR’s Faith Middleton. Trent has given more than fifty lectures on Remembering Hypatia and was a guest of honor of Yale during National Banned Books Week in October 2005. The book was also nominated for Book of the Year by ForeWord magazine.
His passion for history has since led him on several research jaunts around the world. He is also a playwright, award-winning poet, actor, and screenwriter. He has since published Never Grow Old: The Novel of Gilgamesh, which was also a finalist for the Book of the Year Award. The screenplay for Never Grow Old was honored by Writer’s Digest in 2008.
Trent is a leading columnist for Populist America and Examiner.com, and has had work published in The Copperfield Review, the Boston Literary Magazine, The Humanist, Strange Horizons, Apex, Blazing! Adventures, Illumen, Elements of Literature, and received awards from Glimmer Train and L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest. His analysis of civil liberties was used as required reading for the 2005-06 National Debate on Civil Liberties sponsored by H. W. Wilson.
Trent remains committed to the classical spirit of artistic and scientific inquiry. He is a vocal champion of freedom, particularly the freedom of thought and debate. He opposes political cults and religious fanaticism, though champions honest discussion and religious liberty. He is an advocate for education, science, and art.
Trent lives in New England.
