Mary Sojourner
{{short description|American novelist}}
Mary Sojourner (born 1940) is an American novelist, NPR commentator, columnist and environmental and social justice activist. She fought for women's mental health rights in Rochester, New York in the 1970s and 1980s, and moved to the Southwest in 1985 where she continued her writing and activism.
Early life
Sojourner grew up in upstate New York. As a child she was an avid reader.{{cite news|last1=Markgraf|first1=Diandra|title=With alchemy and cautery: Author Sojourner presents new novel in Flagstaff|url=http://azdailysun.com/entertainment/books-and-literature/with-alchemy-and-cautery-author-sojourner-presents-new-novel-in/article_ae115d10-3f49-11e4-b852-cf0ee36fdcab.html|publisher=Arizona Daily Sun|date=18 September 2014}}
Writing
Sojourner is the author of three novels: Sisters of the Dream, Going Through Ghosts{{cite web|last1=Schneider|first1=Katie|title=Fiction review: 'Going Through Ghosts' by Mary Sojourner|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2010/05/fiction_review_going_through_g.html|accessdate=11 June 2015|publisher=The Oregonian|date=22 May 2010}} and 29.{{cite news|last1=Bruner|first1=Betsy|title=Sojourner coming full circle|url=http://azdailysun.com/lifestyles/sojourner-coming-full-circle/article_0db1576d-7b62-566b-bf9f-d4bfd91ba069.html|accessdate=9 June 2015|publisher=Arizona Daily Sun|date=14 August 2011}} The latter received a starred review in Booklist.{{cite news|title=Booklist review: 29|url=http://www.booklistonline.com/29-Mary-Sojourner/pid=6738001|website=Booklist|date=July 2014 |accessdate=12 July 2015}} as well as the short story collection Delicate.{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2001/apr/010412.sojourner.html|date=12 April 2001|publisher=NPR|title=Morning Edition}} She has written two memoirs: Solace: Rituals of Loss and Desire and She Bets Her Life;,{{cite web|last1=Tillinghast|first1=Justin|title=Review - She Bets Her Life|url=http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=book&id=5796|website=metapsychology online reviews|accessdate=11 May 2015}} and a collection of essays, Bonelight: Ruin and Grace in the New Southwest.
She was a Distinguished Writer in Residence for the Virginia Piper Creative Writing program at Arizona State University in 2007 and has served in residencies, including the Bear Lodge Residency at Devil's Tower.{{cite web|title=Mary Sojourner|url=http://piper.asu.edu/person/mary-sojourner/|accessdate=16 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081700/http://piper.asu.edu/person/mary-sojourner/|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}} She has a monthly writing contest in the Arizona Daily Sun that encourages amateur writers to submit a short piece based on a theme or prompt.{{cite news|last1=Sojourner|first1=Mary|title=Write Now and Be Read|url=http://azdailysun.com/flaglive/rearview/the_write_now/the-write-now-round/article_9873b216-c5d8-5ac6-88c2-3eafb9cebc56.html|accessdate=12 July 2015|publisher=Arizona Daily Sun|date=2 July 2015}}
Radio
She has been a national NPR and local NPR commentator since 1999. She reviews Southwestern-themed books for the local NPR station, KNAU.{{cite web|last1=Sojourner|first1=Mary|title=KNAU's Southwest Book Review: Braden Hepner's "Pale Harvest"|url=https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2001/apr/010412.sojourner.html|accessdate= 16 June 2015|publisher=KNAU|date= 10 February 2015}}
Political activism
Sojourner has been arrested twice. In the 1980s, she was trying to stop uranium mining in a sacred Havasupai meadow thirteen miles south of the Grand Canyon, and in 2011, she was attempting to stop snow-making with waste water on the San Francisco Peaks (sacred to thirteen Southwestern tribes).{{cite news|last1=Benson|first1=Phil|title=More people arrested at Snowbowl Protest|url=http://www.kpho.com/story/15271269/3-people-arrested-at-snowbowl.html|accessdate=11 June 2015|publisher=kpho|date=16 August 2011}} Her essay collection, Bonelight, focuses on the environmental and social justice degradation in the New Southwest.
Personal life
She lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Bibliography
- Sisters of the Dream: A Novel. Flagstaff, Ariz: Northland Pub, 1989.
- Bonelight: Ruin and Grace in the New Southwest. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2002
- Solace: Rituals of Loss and Desire. New York: Scribner, 2004
- Delicate: Stories. New York: Scribner, 2004
- Going Through Ghosts: A Novel. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2010
- She Bets Her Life: A True Story of Gambling Addiction. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press, 2010
- 29. Salt Lake City, Utah : Torrey House Press, 2014
References
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Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:American women activists
Category:American women novelists
Category:Writers from New York (state)