Biography

Mary Guedelha was born in Belém do Pará, Brazil in september 10, 1964, and has lived in the USA for more than 20 years. She grew up optimistic and full of dreams, nurturing inside herself the courage to solve her personal obstacles and to face with bravery the challenges of a difficult life, in a country of few opportunities. From a very young age, she was encouraged to make up stories, draw, paint, dance around in costumes, and mainly spend much of her time living imaginatively.

She left home early and traveled to various places looking for better opportunities and a better, quieter life, so she could settle down and raise her young son. After much work, she had the chance to move to California, where a world full of professional possibilities presented itself to her. She was married to businessman for a long time, and, in November 2012, they divorced.

As she was always fearless and never a woman to give up, she decided that it was time to begin making her old dream come true: to become a professional author. Family Secrets is her debut novel and is being published simultaneously in English and Portuguese.

She draws her inspiration to write from many places. But she likes to blend reality and fiction into her works.

"Stories permeate my mind, and I have to put them on paper. Creating a story, seeing the ways it drives me, and how it makes me company for a while is rewarding, because I'm never alone. It's like going out without a destination, being free, with no date and time to arrive. In the end, your prize will be there. Your book will be finished."

She currently lives in Orange County, California. Her hobbies are writing, painting and photography.

You know those precious times in your life where the clock seems to stop, and you wish you could live in the moment forever?

They don't happen every day but, when they do, they're burned into my memory as treasured chapter in my ever-growing life story,

Most of these moments pass by undocumented, preserved only in my own memory. Sadly, they can only be shared with friends and family through verbal stories with no book to truly bring then to life.

Which is why you understand the importance of capturing as many of those history as possible, while I can.

I've been told that writers are a difficult sort to get into serious relationships with. But is not true.

The most important thing is to respect that every writer is an individual, very different from every other individual. I’ve heard of writers who write the most heart wrenching poetry but have none of that to give to their lovers, not a single word. I’ve also heard of writers who will go to any ends of the world to find and keep their muse, who lose the value of their own lives in this pursuit. Every writer has a different dream.

I started writing when I was 14 years old. I liked taking my father's typewriter and traveling into a world of fantasies that came into my head. At the age of sixteen, I already had my first novel Family Secrets. I knew that to become a writer, I would have to go a long way and something that would not be profitable, because surviving as a writer was something unrealistic.

I came from a big family. I have five sisters and one brother. My father was an air force office and we always lived in a military village. I had great friends and an unforgettable childhood with them. Only at home, nothing was as every child wishes. He lives the trauma of an alcoholic father and a frightened mother. And so, my journey of going out into the world started early and having to work to support myself. And my dream of becoming a writer faded into the background.

I lost my brother when he got cancer in 2019. Even though I was far from Brazil, I tried to help as much as I could. He was always special to me. And that's why I dedicated my first published book "Family Secret" to him.

Today, at 59 years old, I see that a lot of things have changed in my life. Between ups and downs I continue to survive and try with each achievement in my life, to give the best of me to my son and grandchildren and the worst, may it be carried away with the wind. I don't like to remember the past and I live every day trying my best and writing, painting and photographing which is all I have and love.

I love traveling and meeting new people, cuisines, cultures and taking photos of explored places.