Marianna Boncek grew up in the Catskill Mountains where she learned to love nature and the stars. She has studied a wide range of disciplines from esoteric to the traditional. She holds a BA from Vermont College, an MA in secondary education from Goddard College, an MA in Egyptology from the University of Manchester, an MFA in creative writing from Mississippi University for women and a PhD from Union Institute and University. She has worked an extremely wide variety of jobs—claims processor, porcelain doll supply representative, gift shop owner and hospital medical records clerk, to name a few. She recently retired from 30 years as an high school English teacher. She now teaches writing in an MFA Program
She is an author and writes in several genres. Her two popular non-fiction works The Spooky Hudson Valley and Gone Missing in New York are published by Schiffer Books. Her young adult novel, Ajar, is published by Mélange Books. Her most recent novel Diamond City is published by Atmosphere Press and her poetry collection, Still Life is published by Wyle Syde Press. She has had two of her plays featured in the Hudson Valley Short Play Festival. Her poems and short stories have been published in a wide variety of journals and anthologies. Her poem Bittersweet won the 2021 Stephen DiBiase prize for poetry. She is a regular reader in Hudson Valley poetry venues. She loves to help aspiring writers.
She currently lives in the Hudson Valley with her partner, Dave.
