Shaun Clarke (W.A.Harbinson) was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1941. Leaving school at fourteen years of age, he became, first, an apprentice Textile Fitter in James Mackie & Sons, Belfast, then an apprentice Gas Fitter with the Mersey Gas Group, Liverpool. At nineteen, he left England to emigrate to Australia, where he joined the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as a trainee telegraphist, then switched to the medical branch. As a medical clerk, he served in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Thailand and Malaysia before receiving his discharge and returning to England in 1967.

Clarke began writing as W.A. Harbinson, publishing his first novel, as well as short stories and articles, while still in the RAAF. After leaving Australia and settling in London, he worked as a magazine editor while continuing to write a remarkably broad range of novels, biographies, short stories, articles, film adaptations, and some short works for radio. Two of his 'W.A.Harbinson' novels, Genesis and Revelation, and one biography, The Illustrated Elvis, were bestsellers on both sides of the Atlantic.

The career of Shaun Clarke began when he was commissioned by Bloomsbury Publishing, London, to write some novels for a series about the Special Air Service (SAS). Clarke wrote twelve full-length novels in eighteen months. The subsequent series, published under the 22 Books imprint, became a huge success, thus launching his career as 'Shaun Clarke'.

He broke from the series with his epic SAS novel, The Exit Club, published by Simon & Schuster in 1996. While still producing novels for Simon & Schuster and Pocket Books, Clarke also wrote a series of SAS thrillers set in his hometown, Belfast, and published by Hodder & Stoughton and Coronet.

Shaun Clarke (W.A.Harbinson) presently divides his time between Paris, France and West Cork, Ireland. For the past six years, he has been the regular film columnist for the Paris-based English-language cross-cultural magazine, The Eyes.