MARI WALKER

Mari Walker developed a love of words at a very young age, listening to her mother’s smooth mellow voice reading tales from an old Southern fairy tale book or spinning tales about her childhood growing up in Blakely, Georgia. Mari imagined that she could see worlds unfolding and characters acting out the adventures that were spun from those beloved stories.

Overcome with curiosity about whether the pictures in her head matched the ones in the book from which her mother read, she climbed onto her mother’s lap with cries of "Can I see the pictures?" To her utter amazement, there were none. A new and wonderful thought was birthed inside her that day. A person could carve out worlds, adventures, people, pictures, sounds, and at times even smells out of mere words. From that moment, she knew she wanted to become an author.

Mari divides her time between freelance writing and editing, and advising aspiring writers on the techniques she has learned on creative writing. She has also volunteered with local elementary schools, and with an after school reading, tutoring program, researching available grants and lending a hand wherever needed.

She resides in Ohio and is currently working on the sequel to her debut novel, Never As Good As The First Time, to be published winter 2008 by St. Martin's Press. She also hopes one day to capture her mother’s stories in a book.

Mari is represented by the ELAINE KOSTER AGENCY,LLC NEW YORK, NY

Publicity: Katy Hershberger