Short Version

Hello. My name is Mary, and I write a lot. Having spent several years teaching writing and research at the university level, I now enjoy scribbling stories for children.

Long Version

Mary Reding Shonka has spent the better part of her life as a scholar: earning advanced degrees in English and Education. Currently, she dedicates half her time to tending various toddlers, pets, and plants on a farm in the Middle of Nowhere, Iowa. The other half she spends as an Education researcher. The in-between she devotes to dreaming up new fantasy worlds for children. In the after-ward, she plans to haunt bookshops - all sorts.

Affiliations

Drake University: Current Ph.D. candidate in the School of Education

Iowa State University: M.A. in English Literature

University of Northern Iowa: B.A. in English Literature & Creative Writing

Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators: Member Iowa Midwest Region