BIOGRAPHY

Mary Vigliante Szydlowski was born in Albany, New York in 1946. She is the daughter of Frank and Nataly Vigliante. Mary grew up in East Greenbush, NY and dreamed of being both an actress and a writer. She wrote short stories, poetry, and plays in junior high and won her first writing competition at the age of 12. She appeared on the stage in school plays and in summer theater workshops. She graduated from Columbia High School in 1964.

After attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, Mary went on to graduate from the State University of New York at Albany in 1971. She majored in Anthropology.

She married Frank Szydlowski in 1971 and later became an adminstrator with the New York State Dept. of Mental Hygiene. She wrote her first novel, THE COLONY, every night after work, setting up her typewriter on the diningroom table.

Mary's daughter, Carrie was born in September 1978. Two months later her first book, THE ARK, was published. Since it was science fiction, her publishers decided to give her a "spacey" pen name. They decided on Jarl Szydlow. In June 1979, her science fiction book, THE COLONY, was published. This time she used the pseudonym, Mary Vigliante. It's sequel, THE LAND, was published in August 1979. In April 1980, SOURCE OF EVIL, another science fiction novel was published. In July of that year her first hardback book appeared. Called SILENT SONG, the novel was about a young women wrongly committed to a state institution. She based the story on the residents she met and the conditions she saw while working as part of a team that inspected institutions for the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled. WORSHIP THE NIGHT, a horror novel, followed in March 1982.

MY FAMILY

Though she continued to write novels and short stories, she also started creating stories for children. She frequently used her daughter Carrie as a model for her characters. Even the antics of their family pet were used in her stories.

Mary's first children's story wasn't published until 1988. Titled "NOT SO VERY DIFFERENT", the story about a developmentally disabled child who becomes a hero appeared in Young Crusader Magazine. At the same time, Mary began working as a reporter for a daily paper.

Her first children's book I CAN'T TALK, I'VE GOT FARBLES IN MY MOUTH was published in December 1995. Illustrated by Ray Dirgo, the book tells the story of a little boy who reluctantly assumes the responsibility of caring for a family of homeless Farbles who've taken up residence in his mouth.

Mary, Ray Dirgo, & Tom Greene, Pres. of Greene Bark Press

In addition to her writing, Mary teaches writing programs at libraries, schools, and writers' groups. Her short stories, articles, children's stories, and poems appear in newspapers, literary magazines, children's magazines, and other publications.