Category: Books

  • Book Clubs Get 40% off!!

    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…

  • ONE LIFE TO GIVE Featured for Veteran’s Day

      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…

  • Bones of an Inland Sea

    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…

  • Women Up On Blocks

    Women Up On Blocks

    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…

  • One Life to Give

    One Life to Give

    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…

  • The Greatest Gift

    The Greatest Gift

    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…

  • Radical Gratitude

    Radical Gratitude

    An illuminating melding of narrative and inspiring practical guidance, this is both the extraordinary true story of a family’s survival in Stalinist Siberia and a guide to becoming a person who can give to others. [button link=”http://www.allenandunwin.com/minisites/inspired-living/books/9781741754223/” type=”big” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] Purchase at Allen & Unwin’s Inspired Living Imprint[/button]

  • My Interview with Anthony Doerr

    Okay, so I was a little bit intimidated, interviewing one of my very favorite authors, but Tony Doerr turned out to be gracious and generous and wise. Here’s a link to his outstanding interview at the r.kv.r.y. blog: Clicky Mary Akers: Thanks for agreeing to talk with me today. I loved your short story “Oranges”…

  • Reading in Floyd

    Well, my reading at Floyd was fantastic. The library helped to publicize the event, provided refreshments, and had already set up the room when we got there a half-hour early. Very organized, they were. We had about 30 people attend (my mom did a lot of advance promotion, god bless her), which wasn’t bad considering…

  • Almost heaven, Floyd, Virginia

    I leave tomorrow, to head to my favorite spot on the planet. I’ll be at Floyd Fest on Friday, reading at the Floyd Library on Saturday (please come by at 2PM if you’re in the area!), catching up with old friends, and soaking up enough Floyd vibes to last until my next visit, which can’t…