Mary earned an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier and writes in multiple genres: poetry, picture books, and middle grade. Mary’s poetry and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Cape Cod Times, The Cambridge Chronicle, Provincetown Magazine, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, and at SheWired.
Poetry for Children:
Mary’s poetry for children has been featured on “Poetry Sunday” on WCAI-FM (Cape and Islands NPR station) and has been published in several anthologies, including Things We Do; What is a Friend?; and Rhyme and Rhythm: Poems for Student Athletes. Mary’s poem “Firefighter Face” appears in Amazing Faces, an anthology edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Lee and Low, 2010). Mary’s poetry for young adults was published in YARN (Young Adult Review Network).
Poetry for Adults:
- Finalist, Saguaro Chapbook Contest, for Unity Hospital chapbook, 2022.
- Finalist, Poetry Box Chapbook Prize, for Unity Hospital chapbook, 2022.
- “Starlite,” awarded Honorable Mention by poet Margie Piercy in Joe Gouveia Poetry Contest, 2022.
- “Ars Poetica, Bronx,” in The New York Times, 25 July 2021.
- “Studying Rachel Maddow in Provincetown,” in the anthology Hashtag Queer Vol. 2, 2018.
- “Not in Kansas: Tribute to Rainbow Flag Creator Gilbert Baker,” Provincetown Magazine, June 2018.
- “We Know How to Do This,” in anthology If You Can Hear This: Poems in Protest of an American Inauguration. Sibling Rivalry Press, January 2017.
Essays:
- “Stop Calling Us Groomers and Quit Making Us Your Prey,” The Advocate, April 2022.
- “Black Lives Matter: Does Your Child’s Bookshelf Reflect the World?” Cape Cod Times, 2020
- “One Year On, Four Things You Can Do to Honor the Victims of the Pulse Nightclub Shooting.” Cognoscenti.com/WBUR-Boston. June 2017.
- “Parenting Through an R-Rated Presidential Campaign.” Cognoscenti.com/WBUR-Boston. November 5, 2016.
- Firefighter’s kid: Stories my father never told me – Cape Cod Times
- Op-Ed: Searching for My Sidekick – A Story of Pure Friendship – Shewired.com
Academic Publication:
“Resilience and Literacy: Building Two Strengths at Once.” Impact: The Journal of the NY State Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. February 2012.
Awards and Honors
- Boston Authors Club, Discovery Award honorable mention, 2020.
- Candlewick Scholarship to Rainbow Writers Retreat, Writing Barn, Austin TX, 2019.
- Eileen Spinelli Scholarship, Highlights Foundation, for Menders, a middle-grade novel, 2017.
- Katherine Paterson Prize, Runner-Up, Hunger Mountain /Vermont College of Fine Arts, 2016.
- Local Cultural Council Grant for “Connecting Through Kids’ Books: a Prison Writing Project,” 2016.
- Finalist, Cape Cod Writers Center Writing Contest, Middle-Grade Fiction, 2016.
- Ruth Landers Glass Scholarship (fiction), New England Society of Children’s Book Writers, 2014.
- Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, Grant Recipient, Creative Writing at Barnstable County Correctional Facility, 2014.