We are all connected: a tapestry. Bios exist in a kind of lonely universe until they bump into someone else’s inquiry. Sometimes, when we meet, we are wearing our comfortable shoes and fall into conversation that leads us to a coffee shop that also sells books, a place where they bake bread and create their own versions of much-loved scones and tarts; in those places, through each other, we find new parts of ourselves or rediscover that which we’ve missed for a long time.
About Me.
Once upon a time there was an award winning writer—poetry, short and long fiction—who was compelled to convey that every one of us is a cellular story; all science and wonder. Reading and writing since four years old, she became the timid girl who held certain stories inside her. When she grew up, she transitioned to a work-life that helped neglected children make sense of their own story-so-far (through a Lifebook program). After writing hundreds of child-clients’ narratives, she kept a promise to herself to write the energy of her own past and those children’s pasts in fiction (and called it Listen For Water). Her career expanded to include dozens of ghostwritten books and developmental collaborations.
One March day in 2025, many years into her career as a writer, she wore her library shoes and planted her feet at the entrance of a biblioteca built in 1660 in Morelia, Mexico. Once inside, she placed her pen (which had been carved by a remarkable individual from the wood of an 80 year-old crabapple tree in the UK which grew steps from where her mother once worked as a china flower-maker) on the lap of a statue of Cervantes, the father of the modern novel.
About you.
Your energy is here because you are reading this. You are a cast stone creating ripples on a pond. You are the breeze in the east created by a mountain range, the moon, a thousand clouds, and a butterfly in the west. You are a component of every story you read, therefore you are a collaborator and as many characters as you want to be in those books. You are even in the chapter of love (aka: acknowledgements in Listen For Water). You probably have a favourite pair of shoes that walk you to interesting places.
About us.
We are a team; storytellers around the fire, whisperers of fears, shouters-from-rooftops of causes. We are both interested in others and interesting to others. As writers and readers and bookstore-scavengers for childhood treasures we either had or wished for, we are creatives whose words can change the world. We are infinite story; story that helps us come from a place of love or find our way there.
A member of the Canadian Authors Association, and former juried member of the Professional Writers Association of Canada, I’m published in a variety of media, and am an award recipient for poetry and fiction. Book count for collaborations and ghost-writes total over sixty published works; many have been recognized by regional groups and won national and international prizes.
My heart lives in a global community and is seriously attached to three countries: the UK, Canada, and Mexico. My life is lived in fellowship with gratitude, and with a love of lifetime learning. I cry when I listen to music, and tear-up when I witness acts of kindness. Don’t even get me started about dogs, donkeys, bats, and capybaras.
Another library 1576 construction (Gertrudis Bocanegra) in Patzcuaro (2025). Amazing mural, no statue of Cervantes or Gertrudis though.
My novel, Listen For Water, was published June 2022. Read more about it at https://ingeniumbooks.com/marie-beswick-arthur/
Twelve Elephants and a Dragon was published October 2024; a memoir of survival and the kindness of strangers, and features Dr. Vi Tu Banh’s harrowing journey as a Vietnamese refugee.
Current work includes developmental editing and mentoring—from novice bloggers to post-graduate students. I also hold the position of managing editor at Ingenium Books Canada.
Original workshops include:
~ For The Love of Writing
~ Super Charged September
~ The First Page
~ Cotton Candy and Zombies: Writing to the Heart of a Child
Marie Beswick-Arthur 