ABOUT THE AUTHOR

At age ten, Maria began writing fictional stories with a neighborhood friend. The two girls structured these stories into serial episodes; they would act them out, sometimes spontaneously creating a plot twist or adding a new character. Maria thrived on this restraint-free creative process. 

In college, Maria pursued an English degree, specializing in creative writing. Here, she learned to tune in to “voice” and recognize character nuances. She expected to graduate and get a “regular” job, but she also planned to keep writing on the side.

Over the years, Maria’s writing ebbed and flowed: poetry, short stories, plays, and novels. Then came a pivotal moment. A local paper published a characterization of Maria’s former childhood violin teacher. This piece let Maria share what her teacher meant to her life in a way that might benefit others. 

To achieve her writing goals and sustain herself financially, Maria eventually pursued academe, beginning her English doctoral program as a married mother of two young children and pregnant with a third. At the first semester’s end, Maria gave birth to her third child. Two days later, she sat at home with three children under 4 and graded 125 freshman composition finals because of her advisor’s expectations. When Maria finally graduated, her youngest child, now 10, asked if she had worked on her doctorate his entire life. And she said, “Yes.” 

Fortunately, in the last years of her program, while searching for a doctoral thesis topic, Maria discovered a fascinating astronomer and science writer, Helen Battles Sawyer Hogg. Quickly, although decades apart, Maria knew she'd found a perfect topic and, as luck would have it, a kindred spirit. 

Thus, Maria’s scholarship has focused on Dr. Helen Sawyer Hogg, the pioneering Canadian-American astronomer and science communicator, leading to her dissertation, a published article, and a biography of Helen Hogg. Her dissertation focused on Hogg’s rhetorical strategies, public outreach, and role as a pioneering woman in astronomy.

Most recently, Maria published Astronomer Helen Sawyer Hogg: One Woman’s Journey with the Stars. She has also pursued her appreciation of children’s literature as an editor for an upper elementary novel, Real Spies Don’t Use Rowboats, by Jeffrey Hope. In addition, she has co-authored a professional communication textbook for college-level students, satisfying her academic side.