12 Facts About Marly Youmans

Marly Youmans's work reflects certain recurring themes such as nature, magic, faith and redemption, and often references visual art.

Marly Youmans grew up in Louisiana, North Carolina, and elsewhere.

Marly Youmans graduated from Hollins College, Brown University, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Marly Youmans taught at State University of New York but quit academia after receiving promotion and tenure in her fifth year.

Marly Youmans's published work consists of five books of poetry, eight novels and two fantasies for young readers, as well as uncollected short stories, essays and poems.

Marly Youmans's novels have been described as 'literary fiction at its finest' in Books and Culture while The Advocate has cited her skill at mastering poetic forms.

Marly Youmans provided the title poems for an illustrated anthology, The Book of Ystwyth: Six Poets on the Art of Clive Hicks-Jenkins.

Marly Youmans has been awarded many "book of the year" and "best of the year" citations by magazines, newspapers, and organizations.

Marly Youmans is the winner of The Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction for The Wolf Pit, her third novel, which was on the short list for The Southern Book Award.

Marly Youmans is a two-time winner of the Theodore Hoepfner Award for the short story and the winner of the New Writers Award of Capital Magazine, for the short story.

Marly Youmans has held fellowships from Yaddo, New York State, and elsewhere.

Marly Youmans was a judge of the 2012 National Book Awards.