User:Sonkoral/Mary J Koral

Mary J. Koral (June 4, 1943) is a former long-time lecturer at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, MI. She is the author of a the publication: The Year The Trees Didn’t Die --- One Mother’s Memoir.

Early life
Mary was born in St. Marys, Pennsylvania on June 4, 1943. She was the third of eight children in her family, and the oldest of five girls. Her father, Raphael Sherry was a Carpenter. His ancestry can be traced to the Alsace-Lorraine area of Germany. Her mother, Anne Jeselnick, had roots in Austria, but grew up in a lumber camp in northwestern, Pennsylvania. Mary was educated in Catholic schools in Saint Marys. She later obtained her BA from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and her MA in Creative Writing and Women’s Studies from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Teaching
Mary first taught at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor Township, Michigan. She left for employment as a Lecturer at Eastern Michigan University from 1990 through 2013 beginning as part time and progressing through to the highest level of the position. She taught chiefly Creative Writing for both undergraduate students and then also for graduate students, as well as Introductory English and a Native American Literature. In addition, she later created and taught a course on Asian American literature.

Writing
Early on, Mary wrote poetry, working informally with Donald Hall from the University of Michigan. Soon, however, she switched to prose assembling the long list of publications shown in her Bibliography. Her ultimate creation to date is the 317 page memoir which underwent many, many incarnations (and title changes) before its publication in October 2015.

Awards
Mary received numerous awards for her work and writing including:


 * Hopwood Award in Poetry. University of Michigan.
 * Outstanding Graduate Student in Creative Writing. Eastern Michigan University.
 * Holman Outstanding Lecturer in Classroom Instruction. Eastern Michigan University. April 3, 2006.
 * Michigan Council for The Arts award.

Personal life
Mary has lived in Ann Arbor Michigan with her husband Ken since May, 1972. She and Ken raised three children there, one adopted from Vietnam, the next from India and the third from Korea. She currently lives with stage four cancer, is a yoga practitioner, a four-miles-a day walker, and a member of the Women Writers of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. She has come to realize that Einstein was right. We can see nothing in life as miraculous or all of life as miraculous. But she only achieves that later perception in increments of ten minutes at a time.

Journal Publications

 * Santa Monica Review “Honky Woman” “Words of Wisdom” “Testifying.”
 * Denver Quarterly “Alligator Purse.”
 * Asspants “What Children Learn to Love.”
 * Cream City Review “Skin.”
 * West Branch “Solid Gold.”
 * Antigonish Review “Transfers.”
 * Caliban “Photographic Light.”
 * Blue Unicorn “Marigolds” “Independence Lake”
 * Shenendoah. “Eight Add on Eight”
 * Writers Reading at Sweetwater “Broken Glass”
 * Tusculum Review “Receptacles”
 * Pisgah Review “Generic Smoke”
 * Ducts.org “Residual Color Molecules”
 * Diverse Voices Quarterly “Baby Stealer”
 * Alaska Quarterly Review “Lock Up”
 * Interim “Baby Slug”
 * Sanskrit “What We Can Own”
 * Green Hills Literary Lantern “Red Rose Tea”

Awards

 * Glimmer Train top twenty-five stories. “Flag Girl on The Highway.”
 * Glimmer Train finalist “Sacraments”

Interviews
Stateside, NPR Radio "An adoptive parent reflects on struggles raising her interracial family", January 13, 2016