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About Marilynne Miles Gray

Why write cross-genre material?

    I'm drawn to variety in writing whether it's novels, history, how-to reference books and the like. So it's natural for me to explore the boundaries of literature.

My Non de plume - for fiction

 

     Why Maneen? Because it was the way I pronounced my first name when I was 2 years old.  The name has stuck. The rest is a simple choice -- keep it shorter than my current, legal name: Marilynne Miles Gray. No hyphen between the two last surnames, thank you. Double-barelled last names create interesting challenges: which letter of the alphabet have the organizers at conference filed me under: G or M? Sounds suspiciously like a mystery title from Agatha Christie.

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My educational background

 

     I hold a B.A. (Honours) in English Literature from the University of British Columbia. There, I was fortunate to work with amazing, high-profile professors in classes of manageable size--none of the classes of 200+ that are not uncommon today. The reading list and course load was impressively-heavy.

    After completing a Master's in English, I spent a year spent in the infamous "Fifth Year Transfer Program", becoming a high school teacher. I held Permanent Teaching Certification in both Ontario and British Columbia public school systems with experience as both an English Second Language and English Language-Literature teacher. This was followed up with graduate studies at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) focussing on Curriculum Design.

    For my Master's Degree in Educational Administration, I wrote a thesis on case study methodology. Along the way, I taught English at the university level and acted as a teacher-trainee supervisor in the world's first formal mentoring programme in the field of education.

     Side note: I was educated to use English spellings but use American-style spelling for my audiences.

The rest of the story

     My husband and partner (Dr. William Gray) and I organized the (world's) First International Conference on Mentoring attendees by several hundred from four continents and eight countries . Out of this event came the first Annotated Bibliography on Mentoring plus two volumes of readings and a refereed, quarterly Mentoring International Journal.

     Together, we have designed and delivered many of the world's first formal mentoring programs in fields ranging from the military, to corporations (including Fortune 100 firms), universities, non-profits, public school systems, and associations.

     To carry out such work, we developed test instruments, and train-the-trainer programmes for organizations in Canada, the USA, Germany, Australia, Borneo, Mexico and other locations.

For further information, go to www.mentoring-solutions.com

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