Mary Akers is an ocean advocate who wrote the short story collections BONES OF AN INLAND SEA and WOMEN UP ON BLOCKS which won the IPPY 2010 gold medal for short fiction; she also co-authored the non-fiction title ONE LIFE TO GIVE. Akers frequently writes fiction that focuses on the intersections between art and science, including such topics as diverse and timely as the environmental movement and the struggle for human and animal rights. She co-founded the Institute for Tropical Marine Ecology, a study abroad marine ecology program originally located in Roseau, Dominica. She enjoys snorkeling, hiking, backpacking, mountaineering, kayaking and snowshoeing. Among other jobs, she has worked as an historical interpreter/bookbinder for Colonial Williamsburg, a production potter at Historic Jamestown Island, an art teacher in Hawaii, and a cook in a nursing home. Although raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia--which she will always call home--she currently lives in Western New York.