Mary T. Wagner

Mary T. Wagner is a former newspaper and magazine journalist who changed careers at forty by going to law school and becoming a prosecuting attorney for the State of Wisconsin. However, she never could step away from the written word entirely, and the joy of writing drew her back to the keyboard.

A Chicago native, Wagner now lives in “coastal Wisconsin,” where she draws much inspiration for writing from frequent trips to the Lake Michigan shore. Now retired from the law, Wagner’s legal experience had ranged from handling speeding tickets to arguing and winning cases before the Wisconsin Supreme Court…sometimes in the same week! Her colorful, casual writing style has been compared to a cross between Ernest Hemingway and Henry David Thoreau…and also Erma Bombeck, but in sexier shoes.

Wagner’s literary output includes the essay collections Running with Stilettos, Heck on Heels, and When the Shoe Fits; the Finnigan the Circus Cat series of children’s chapter books; and Of Bairns and Wheelie Bins, a humorous guide to understanding what British detectives are saying on the telly.

Wagner’s life experiences include the defining watershed of motherhood, and stints as a girl scout troop leader, truck stop waitress, office temp, judicial clerk, and radio talk show host. She counts both wearing spike heels and learning to use a cordless drill and chainsaw among her “late blooming” discoveries, and would be hard pressed to surrender either her favorite stilettos or her power tools. For more on Wagner’s writing and books, visit: http://www.marytwagner.com.

Back to Author Members