Mar�ce Merrell has a passion for words. As a novelist for children, young adults and adults, a professional writer and a journalist, she has devoted her working life to word-centric creative careers. Similar to her drive to share stories, Mar'ce has applied her creative talents in classrooms from Kindergarten to Grade 12.

With 8 years of teaching experience as a writer-in-residence through the Artists in Residency program and through the international organization Learning Through the Arts, Mar�ce�s enthusiasm for working with students is evident.

The Cake Princess, a short story for young adults, published in the collection titled Cleavage: Breakaway Fiction for Real Girls, Sumach Press, fall 2008.

Trading Riley (Roussan, Montreal), a novel for middle readers, 2001, ISBN: 1-896184-88-X.

Max�s Misadventures, early reader for grades 3 to 5, (Hodgepog Books, Vancouver), 2000. ISBN: 0 9-68-68-99-0-6

Ben and the Carrot Predicament, early reader, (Hodgepog Books, Vancouver), 1998, ISBN: 1-895836-54-9.

K to 3: How Stories Grow
Using the story of Ben and The Carrot Predicament as a base, younger students will move into an exploration of how stories grow from an idea into a beginning, middle and end. Students will engage in a drama exercise that grows a story with students playing the roles of characters and director. This session will give teachers and students a new way to play with story ideas that moves beyond readers� theatre to a student-based activity that builds on imagination.

4 to 6: Scene connections
Through the sharing of Trading Riley and Max�s Misadventures (depending on the age of the audience) we explore scenes in writing short fiction. We create a scene from a skeleton of ideas and practice the tools, dramatically, of scene writing. This is a session that will give both teachers and students a new and more defined vocabulary about description, character thoughts and dialogue: the building blocks of scenes.

7 to 12: Voice connections
Through the sharing of The Cake Princess and an engaging drama exercise, we explore voice in writing. We talk about voice in writing: how to recognize it and how to develop it. I share my personal story of the first time my writing voice was heard (in an English class) and the journey I�ve taken to become a dedicated, published author. This is a session that will give students and teachers an opportunity to think about how writing is difficult (how many revisions?) and the importance of voice in written work.

Boom Deaf, Bitumen Blind, a short story for adults was short listed for the CBC Literary Awards.

Mar'ce was accepted into the Banff Centre for the Arts Writing Studio program to work on her adult novel, May 2008.