Mary A. Agria (born 24 March 1941) is an American writer who spent her early career as a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with bei ...

writer, then in 'retirement' began writing a series of

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

that deal with the issues facing older Americans, including finding meaning in one's senior years, resolving parent-child relationships and facing the ultimate realities of change and loss that are part of the human experience. In 2006 her novel, ''Time in a Garden'', appeared on best-seller fiction lists all over northern

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. She has written five novels (''For Things Left Undone'', 2001; ''Time in a Garden'', 2006; ''Vox Humana: The Human Voice'', 2007; ''In Transit'', 2008; and ''Community of Scholars'', 2009) and numerous non-fiction books, articles and texts.

Life and influences

Childhood

Agria grew up in

Appleton, Wisconsin Appleton ( mez, Ahkōnemeh) is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. One of the Fox Cities, it is situated on the Fox River, southwest of Green Bay and north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the coun ...

where her mother worked as executive secretary to the president of a large fraternal life insurance company. Her father was a mechanical engineer with an international paper company. Family life instilled in her a deep love of writing and travel. As a sixth grader she wrote the winning script about Stephen Foster for a school drama contest. In high school and early college, she worked as a

summers for ''

The Post-Crescent ''The Post-Crescent'' is a daily newspaper based in Appleton, Wisconsin. Part of the Gannett chain of newspapers, it is primarily distributed in numerous counties surrounding the Appleton/Fox Cities area. History ''The Appleton Crescent'' was f ...

'' in Appleton, the paper that gave Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist

Edna Ferber Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), ''Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' Cim ...

her start—a writer whose style Agria always admired.

Education

She earned her BA in English (1964) and an MA in German literature and

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

in 1965. She spent 1962 and 1963 studying theater arts at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

, Germany thanks to a

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

scholarship. Her undergrad thesis on the songs in

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

's ''

Three Penny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music b ...

'' and

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peac ...

's ''

Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...

'' was a winner of the UWM undergrad essay competition.

Early career

After a job in

Public Relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

and as freelance editor at UW Press-Madison, Agria became director of a Work-Education Council in

Alma, Michigan Alma is the largest city in Gratiot County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,383 at the 2010 census. It was incorporated as the Village of Alma in 1872 and became a city in 1905. Alma hosts the annual Highland Festival on Memo ...

designated by the

US Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploy ...

as a model for innovative community development programs. The experience resulted in consultancies and freelance writing assignments in the career field and on rural issues. Periodic moves throughout her marriage to now retired University President Dr. John Agria opened many diverse job and life changes all of which she uses in her writing. She wrote grants for a

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...

, NY, music school, worked as chaplain for United Campus Ministries in New York, and directed a community development think-tank at Thiel College in Pennsylvania. As researcher for the Center for Theology and Land in

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

, she traveled extensively, studied and wrote about rural life.

Recent years

Community building remains an important undercurrent in her novels, the power of relationships to promote growth and change. A church organist since her early teens, after "retiring" to

, New York, Agria served as organist/music director of several churches — a background she put to good use in her novel, ''Vox Humana: The Human Voice''. One of her many accomplishments as a church music director was producing and directing a fully staged medieval

mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...

, ''Nativity'', from her script compiled from several early manuscripts. She also learned to weave for ''Vox Humana'', seeing strong ties between music and that ancient art form. A love of community gardening in the northern Michigan summer

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua bro ...

community of Bay View inspired her 2006 best-selling novel, ''Time in a Garden'' — a love song to the aging process, spirituality and gardening. ''In Transit'', about lives and families in transition, was researched on travels with her husband in their motor home, including a 2007 coast-to-coast book tour. As mother of four daughters and a growing brood of grandchildren, the healing power of love, family and community runs through her work.

Selected works

Novels

*''For Things Left Undone'', 2001 *''Time in a Garden'', 2006 *''Vox Humana: The Human Voice'', 2007 *''In Transit'', 2008 *''Community of Scholars'', 2009

Nonfiction books and texts

*"Enhancing Traditional and Innovative Rural Support Services," chapter in ''Toward a Rural Renaissance'' (USDOL 1981) *''Building Rural Linkages: a guide for work-education councils'' (MDOL 1981) *''Building Healthy Communities: Stories of 12 communities in the Midwest'' (Studies in Rural Ministry 1995) *''Winning the Rat Race: a common sense guide to job hunting and work force survival'' (1995, Wm. C. Brown) *''Rural Congregational Studies: a guide for good shepherds'' (co-author, 1997, Abingdon) *''Planting the Seeds of Community'' (vols. 1-2, Center for Theology and Land) *Articles and scholarly pieces: for Jo Bonomo How-To Series, Journal of the National Case Institute, Julien's Journal; a syndicated column on work and education ('Winning the Rat Race/Work Links', 20 years) in newspapers in Iowa and Pennsylvania; and currently a column on gardening and spirituality ('Time in a Garden') in the Petoskey, MI News Review.

External links

Mary Agria official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Agria, Mary 1941 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Writers from Appleton, Wisconsin University of Bonn alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni American women essayists 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American essayists Novelists from Wisconsin