Books


40% Discount for Book Clubs** Promotion Rules: Download one of the coloring pages from the Extras page (here). Color it–manually, digitally, with paint, pencils, markers, or whatever you prefer. Post the colored image to Instagram and/or Facebook and tag me in the image. Add the hashtag #bookclubs and #maryakers Private message me to complete secure ordering of your copies or use the contact button on this website. Each valid entry will have the chance to Skype or Facetime with the author. Colored and completed images will be shared on social media. **Discount applies for all members of your book club, but books must be ordered as one shipment. US or APO/FPO addresses only,...

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  Pete Gallivan did an absolutely wonderful feature on Buffalo’s WGRZ about my co-author Andrew Bienkowski for Unknown Stories of Western New York. Pete talked about Andy’s banishment to Siberia (in 1939) at only five years of age and how that experience has informed and influenced his life for the past 75 years. There’s even a little cameo from Yours Truly....

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Leslie is a marine biologist, an only child, and a mother of three who gets caught in a deadly tsunami. Jack is a Viet Nam veteran with PTSD on a mission to save fish from dying in captivity. Dani is a trans man struggling to find his way in a gender prescriptive world. Mary Akers brilliantly weaves together these three lives alongside a host of other characters with whom they cross paths. This brand-new Book Club Edition delivers an assortment of supplemental materials designed to generate lively discussion, including a signature cocktail recipe, an author interview, and a completely new final story that offers a speculative glimpse into the future. At once evocative and captivating, Bones of an Inland Sea is a powerful work of imagination and transformation.   Advance praise for Bones of an Inland Sea: “In Mary Akers’ stories, as complexly intertwined as the branches of a coral reef, her passionate characters engage both each other and a richly detailed, vital physical world. An impressive achievement.”                               ~Andrea Barrett, author of Archangel and Ship Fever, winner of the National Book Award   Want a personalized, signed copy direct from the author? Follow the ordering link...

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Whether it’s a young co-ed who has lived her life succumbing to passion and authority, a woman struggling with the intense demands of motherhood, or a newlywed whose new mirror-filled home proves too much for her fragile psyche, these thirteen stories–edgy and alluring–inexorably peel back the layers of the women they portray. By turns lyrical and haunting, plainspoken and frank, WOMEN UP ON BLOCKS explores the price women pay when they allow the roles of wife, mother, daughter, or lover to define them. Purchase at Amazon   Or Purchase a signed, personalized copy direct from the...

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In the winter of 1939, five-year-old Andrew Bienkowski was banished to Siberia with his family. With virtually nothing to see them through their first winter, his grandfather chose to starve in order to give his family the chance to survive. The years that followed were harrowing and difficult, but Andrew’s childhood in Siberia established his essential approach to life. With One Life to Give, Andrew Bienkowski underscores how the greatest fulfillment we can achieve as human beings lies in helping others. Purchase at...

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Andrew Bienkowski was five years old when his family was banished to Siberia from their Polish homeland. With virtually nothing to see them through the long, cold winter, his grandfather chose to starve to death in order to give his family a chance at survival. The years that followed were harrowing and difficult, but also magical. Warmed by the beauty of the natural landscape and the kindness of strangers, Andrew’s story as told by Akers is an inspiring look at what we can achieve when we are truly selfless. Purchase at Simon & Schuster...

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