Coe, Marian 1931-

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COE, Marian 1931-

PERSONAL:

Born March 12, 1931, in Birmingham, AL; daughter of Will (a city employee) and Susie J. (a telephone company employee) Riddle; married Paul Roman Zipperlin (an artist), July 7, 1984; children: (first marriage) Carol Coe, David McLean Coe. Ethnicity: "English/white." Education: Attended University of Alabama. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Christian. Hobbies and other interests: Psychology, social issues, comparative religions, metaphysics.

ADDRESSES:

Home and Office—SouthLore Press, 730 Grouse Moor Dr., Banner Elk, NC 28604. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Journalist, novelist, and poet. St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, FL, features writer, 1963-83; freelance writer, 1983—. SouthLore Press, Banner Elk, NC, founder and publisher.

MEMBER:

International Women's Writers Guild, Publishers Marketing Association, Florida Writers Association, North Carolina Writers Network.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Fallot Literary Award, National Association of Independent Publishers, 1993, for Legacy; finalist in fiction category, Benjamin Franklin Award, Publishers Marketing Association, 1999, for Eve's Mountain: A Novel of Passions and Mystery in the Blue Ridge; Appalachian State University established the Marian Coe creative writing scholarship in her honor.

WRITINGS:

On Waking Up (verse), Valkyrie Press, 1974.

Women in Transition (verse), Miracle House, 1984.

Legacy (novel), SouthLore Press (Little Switzerland, NC), 1993.

Eve's Mountain: A Novel of Passions and Mystery in the Blue Ridge, SouthLore Press (Little Switzerland, NC), 1998.

Marvelous Secrets (stories), SouthLore Press (Little Switzerland, NC), 2000.

Key to a Cottage, SouthLore Press (Banner Elk, NC), 2003.

Contributor of short stories to periodicals.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A fictional account of two seminal leaders in spiritual healing from the 1900s.

SIDELIGHTS:

Marian Coe told CA: "I write to communicate the inner reality of a character's life, the situation in flux, and sense of setting. Rather than being on stage myself, I choose to be the director working the lights, for the reader-audience to experience the action. The story I wish to unfold on that stage has to have underlying substance, or I have no interest in showing it.

"I leave the horror, the glitz, the tricky mystery—as well as the abstract literary expressions—to all the others who do these books so well. For me the late John Gardner's criterion expresses my personal beliefs and therefore inspiration: fiction should affirm life rather than present voyeurism or devalue meaningful ideas. Even a humorous piece can do this.

"My first short story was published in the Birmingham News when I was twelve years old. The next editor replied to a submission with a kind suggestion to grow up and have a life first, which I did, dealing with school, marriage, children, widowhood, then twenty years in news features at the St. Petersburg Times. Some stories were published elsewhere along the way. Credits now stand at five books. Writing is my focus; rewriting my time-consuming habit. Publishers Weekly always refers to my Southern voice and pace. Because I had a late start with my fiction, I haven't tried to knock on New York City doors, but have accepted, with no apologies, independent publishers who believe more in their books than in bottom-line profits. I have books that reviewers see as movies—if the right agent were to take a look."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, January, 1993, Bettie Spivey Cormier, review of Legacy, p. 193; December, 1997, Rex E. Klett, review of Eve's Mountain, p. 158. Publishers Weekly, January 4, 1993, review of Legacy, p. 70; June 12, 2000, review of Marvelous Secrets, p. 54