Mary Agria
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer who spent her early career as a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
writer, then in 'retirement' began writing a series of novels 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
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. 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.
Childhood
Agria grew up in Appleton, WisconsinAppleton, Wisconsin
Appleton is a city in Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is situated on the Fox River, 30 miles southwest of Green Bay and 100 miles north of Milwaukee. Appleton is the county seat of Outagamie County. The population was 78,086 at the 2010 census...
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 journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
summers for The Post-Crescent
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 area.-History:...
in Appleton, the paper that gave Pulitzer-Prize-winning novelist Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber
Edna Ferber was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels were especially popular and included the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big , Show Boat , and Giant .-Early years:Ferber was born August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan,...
her start—a writer whose style Agria always admired.
Education
She earned her BA in English (1964) and an MA in German literature and linguisticsLinguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
from the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
(1965). She spent 1962-1963 studying theater arts at the University of Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
, Germany thanks to a Marshall Plan
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the large-scale American program to aid Europe where the United States gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to combat the spread of Soviet communism. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948...
scholarship. Her undergrad thesis on the songs in Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
's Three Penny Opera and John Gay
John Gay
John Gay was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera , set to music by Johann Christoph Pepusch...
's Beggar's Opera was a winner of the UWM undergrad essay competition.
Early career
After a job in Public RelationsPublic relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
and as freelance editor at UW Press-Madison, Agria became director of a Work-Education Council in Alma, Michigan
Alma, Michigan
Alma is the largest city in Gratiot County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,275 at the 2000 census. It was incorporated as the Village of Alma in 1872 and became a city in 1905....
designated by the US Department of Labor 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
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, NY, music school, worked as chaplain for United Campus Ministries in NY, and directed a community development think-tank at Thiel College
Thiel College
Thiel College is a private, liberal arts, sciences and professional studies college related to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Thiel provides affordable high-quality college experience with dedicated faculty, numerous leadership opportunities and a wide variety of student activities and...
in PA. As researcher for the Center for Theology and Land in Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque, Iowa
Dubuque is a city in and the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. In 2010 its population was 57,637, making it the ninth-largest city in the state and the county's population was 93,653....
, 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 Long IslandLong Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, NY, 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 play
Mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song...
, 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
Chautauqua was an adult education 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 brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with...
community of Bay View
Bay View, Michigan
Bay View is an unincorporated resort community in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Bear Creek Township, Emmet County on Little Traverse Bay and abuts the east side of the city of Petoskey along U.S. Highway 31. The ZIP code is 49770 and the FIPS place code is 06260...
inspired her summer 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.
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.