Marion Constantinides

Marion Constantinides first wrote and sketched as a child growing up in Pittsburgh, PA and Brooklyn, New York. She received her first recognition for her creativity when she won the New York City Schools Art Award and participated in her first art exhibit in downtown Manhattan. She was fourteen and a half when she moved to Cyprus with her family. She experienced culture shock but she continued to write about and sketch the sights and sounds of another country. Returning to Pittsburgh, Marion received a Bachelor degree in Studio Arts from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Diploma in Layout and Production Art form the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. She is currently a Master of Art candidate in Writing Popular Fiction (with an emphasis on children’s and Young Adult books) at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. Marion’s mixed media drawings have been exhibited in various regional and national art shows. In 1990 and in 1996, she was named Artist-In-Residence by the PA Council on the Arts and has won other awards for her art. She has taught writing and art at numerous community colleges, art schools, and other non-credit programs. She has also been Director of South Arts, a creative school for the arts in the Pittsburgh area. She also develops creative educational programs, workshops, and camps for children and adults and has worked with the blind and visually impaired utilizing alternative methods and tools for teaching writing. Currently, Marion is a freelance editor and assistant literary agent for Sterling House Publishers and Lee Shore Agency in Swissvale, PA. Marion is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and writes Young Adult novels and nonfiction work for elementary school children. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her family.