Barnaby Conrad III (born 1952) is an American author, artist, and editor.
Early years
Conrad was born in
San Francisco in 1952, the son of author
Barnaby Conrad, Jr and architect Dale (Cowgill) Crichton.[1] His father was an amateur
bullfighter, and published the bestselling book Matador the same year that Conrad III was born. It is said that Conrad III barely escaped being named after his father's friend
Juan Belmonte.[2]
Conrad's first book credit was as an illustrator of his father's children's book, Zorro - A Fox in the City, in 1971. He co-authored a book of interviews with photographers in 1977, then didn't write any more books until Absinthe: History In a Bottle, in 1988, his first book as a solo author.[1] As of 2011, Conrad has authored over 11 non-fiction books, and hundreds of magazine articles for over 30 publications.[4][5]The Martini: An Illustrated History of an American Classic (1995) has sold over 160,000 hardcover copies.[6] He has taught other aspiring authors at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, which was founded by his father.[4]
Publishing
In 2009, Conrad joined independent book publisher Council Oak Books, where he founded a new imprint, "Kanbar & Conrad Books", with inventor-philanthropist
Maurice Kanbar. The inaugural book of the imprint was The Second Life of John Wilkes Booth, by Conrad's father,
Barnaby Conrad.[3][7]
Painting
Though Conrad painted throughout his career, he didn't return to showing his works professionally until later in life. He exhibited in 20 group shows in San Francisco, and held his first solo show in
New York City, in 2009, at his wife's gallery, M. Sutherland Fine Arts. It focused on aquatic animals from his hobby,
fly fishing.[1][6]
Personal life
Conrad married art gallery owner Martha Sutherland on May 24, 2003.[8][9]