Phil Adamo is a former circus clown turned medieval history prof turned novelist.
He took a gap year after high school that lasted twelve years. During that time, he performed as a clown in circuses and theatres throughout the United States and Europe, including Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey and Zirkus Roncalli.
At the age of thirty, he finally went to college and ended up getting a PhD in medieval history. He taught for twenty years at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, where he was named Minnesota Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Since 2020, he’s retired from teaching and devoted himself to writing fiction. He is the author of The Medievalist, Aesop’s College, and Memoir of a Pilgrimage for Eight. When he isn’t on perpetual book tour in his tricked-out camper van, he divides his time between a ranch in the Texas hill country and a lakeside cabin in Wisconsin.

Clowning with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, 1977. That's me in the top row, center.

Performing at an outdoor theatre festival in Germany (playing the cowbells), late 1970s to early 80s.

Working as an editorial cartoonist and graphic designer at the Huntsville Item, Huntsville, Texas, mid 1980s.
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