Mary Clark is the winner of the 2021 Crazyhorse Fiction Prize, selected by Rumaan Alam. The winning story “Steppie” looks at a woman’s love for children and also her chosen childlessness, a mix that’s sometimes hard for her to square. Mary pulled almost all of that short story from a chapter in her recent novel manuscript. In an interview with Crazyhorse, she talks about the inspiration for her prizewinning story.
Mary is also a semi-finalist in both the 2023 American Short(er) Fiction Prize, and 2025 The Halifax Ranch Prize from American Short Fiction. She has a short story in a recent issue of The New England Review.
She grew up in Baltimore City, and after walking away from her corporate career, she returned to live there and work exclusively on writing novels. She earned an MFA in Poetry from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has published poems and short stories.
maryclarkwrites
Mary Clark's Writing 