Mark Patrick McGuire is a writer, documentarian and professor of arts and letters at John Abbott cégep since 2005. A former basketball player at Davidson College in North Carolina and holder of a doctorate in religions and cultures from Concordia University, he settled in Montreal (Petite Patrie - Rosemont) in 2004. With his wife and neighbours, he founded the alternative school Le Vitrail in 2015. His film about urban pilgrims from Tokyo and Osaka, produced with Jean-Marc Abela (Shugendô Now) won the David Plath Award in 2011 for best educational media.