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Mary Schendlinger

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Mary Schendlinger was born in August, 1948, and grew up in Waukesha, Wisconsin, a small city surrounded by farms. For some reason, she was afraid of haystacks, a phenomenon well documented by her partner Stephen Osborne in his short story “Girl Afraid of Haystacks.”

Mary and her siblings, a brother and a sister, grew up in a home full of books. She got the reading bug early and wrote and drew her own stories, pictures, and cartoons. One series of stories was about a feral French poodle named Fifi, who had thrilling adventures such as begging for food at the cafés of Paris and sailing the ocean on the back of a turtle.

It was Mary’s aunt Betty, an eccentric woman who worked as a teacher and was considered quite radical for wearing “slacks” to...more Mary Schendlinger was born in August, 1948, and grew up in Waukesha, Wisconsin, a small city surrounded by farms. For some reason, she was afraid of haystacks, a phenomenon well documented by her partner Stephen Osborne in his short story “Girl Afraid of Haystacks.”

Mary and her siblings, a brother and a sister, grew up in a home full of books. She got the reading bug early and wrote and drew her own stories, pictures, and cartoons. One series of stories was about a feral French poodle named Fifi, who had thrilling adventures such as begging for food at the cafés of Paris and sailing the ocean on the back of a turtle.

It was Mary’s aunt Betty, an eccentric woman who worked as a teacher and was considered quite radical for wearing “slacks” to school, who gave Mary her first typewriter. She also sent wonderful books about interesting girls, such as The Fairy Doll, Twig, Understood Betsy, and Charlotte’s Web (her absolute favorite then and now). Betty made her write a review of everything she sent.

When she was 10, Mary’s dream was to have her work published in Mad magazine. She sent them a gazillion ideas and comics and always got funny notes back, but never an offer to publish.

Mary spent two summers (when she was 11 and 12) with her cousin Susan in Pensacola, Florida. Mary’s uncle let them do all kinds of things that her dad wouldn’t let her do, such as eat Fritos and read comic books. It took both summers to read through Susan’s closet full of comics—Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, Superdog, Tom & Jerry, Richie Rich, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Heckle & Jeckle, and Archie.

Mary’s partner is a writer, editor, photographer, and publisher, and they hang out with people working in art, books/magazines, music, film, and theater. As an editor, she learns more about writing every day, and the members of her terrific writers’ group, the Letterheads, are super-smart and give great critiques, which is a good thing, she says, because editors can’t see their own writing any more than doctors can examine their own eardrums.

Mary’s other mentors are writers whose books she admires. E.B. White (Charlotte’s Web) was a wonderful writer; Raymond Briggs is god. So are Roald Dahl, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, Arnold Lobel, A.A. Milne, Dr. Seuss, William Steig, Mary Norton, Irving Bemelmans, and Beverly Cleary. These writers are not trying to write in fancy language or to be cool and hip. They tell a good and interesting story in simple, direct language that will still be a good story a hundred years from now. They make you care about what happens and think about something in a new way.

Prepare to Be Amazed: The Geniuses of Modern Magic (2005) was an idea that Annick Press presented to Mary. She jumped on it because she is fascinated by magic, and this was her chance to read up on all these intriguing guys (and a few gals) who wowed the crowds with their seemingly impossible feats. She started work on the book by reading everything she could find—books, magazines, newspapers, websites. Then she began writing stories about the magicians, and eventually figured out that she was writing not only the life stories of some interesting, accomplished people, but also the story of “modern” magic (from about 1840).

Mary offers three bits of advice to aspiring writers: 1. Read, read, read, read, read. 2. Write to figure out what you’re doing rather than the other way around. 3. Hang out with other readers and writers.

Mary lives in Vancouver, B.C., with her partner. She has two grown daughters; one is a librarian and the other is a music festival coordinator. Her granddaughter is in grade 3 and is a fabulous reader and writer.

Mary’s interests are reading, writing, publishing, and family. As well as writing prose, she writes and draws comics.

Her future plans are more of the same … she can’t stop now.
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Average rating: 3.00 · 1 rating · 0 reviews · 2 distinct works

	Prepare to Be Amazed 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2005 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Quotations From Chairman Zalm by William N. Vander Zalm, Stephen Osborne (Editor), Mary Schendlinger (Editor) 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	My rating:

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Mary's Fans (1)

Mary Schendlinger

Author profile

combine editionsBooks by Mary Schendlinger

Upcoming Events

combine editions
Books by Mary Schendlinger