BIO

Marianne Mersereau is an award-winning poet, writer, dancer and mystic who grew up in the Southern Highlands of Appalachia and now resides in the Pacific Northwest. She is the author of a poetry chapbook, Timbrel (2013), selected as a semi-finalist in the Finishing Line Press New Women's Voices Competition. She is also the author of a children's picture book, The Green Lake Gifting Game (2014). Her first full-length poetry collection, a memoir in verse, "In the Grip of Grace" is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press (Spring 2024).

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Her work has appeared in The Seattle Times, Bella Grace, Entropy, The Hollins Critic, Still Point Arts Quarterly, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Deep South Magazine, The Remington Review, Seattle's Poetry on Buses and elsewhere, and has been selected for numerous anthologies. Marianne was a finalist in Artists Embassy International's Dancing Poetry Contest in 2018.

 

Marianne's love of flowers, bees and the natural world earned her the nickname, Wild Honey. In addition to creating poems and stories, she also creates floral designs and volunteered for over a decade as director of the Flower Guild at Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church in Seattle. She is a performer of Appalachian clog dance, modern lyrical dance and liturgical dance and enjoys traveling with her family. She is the proud mother of two children and has enjoyed the companionship of husband, Dave, for over 30 years.

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Marianne holds degrees in education from the University of Virginia at Wise and Seattle University. She spent a decade working as an elementary school teacher. 

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