Mary Camarillo is the author of the award-winning novel The Lockhart Women.
Her awards include the 2022 Willa Literary Award Finalist in Multiform Fiction, the 2021 First Place Award in the Next Generation Indies for First Fiction, the 2022 Finalist for the Screencraft Cinematic Book Award, the 2021 Finalist in the American Book Awards in Women’s Fiction, the 2022 Silver Titan Award, and the 2022 Honorable Mention, Los Angeles Book Award for Regional Fiction and the 2022 Honorable Mention, Hollywood Book Award for Fiction.
Her second novel Those People Behind Us will be published in October of 2023. Her poems and short fiction have appeared in publications such as TAB Journal, 166 Palms, Sonora Review, and The Ear.
Mary writes about living in Southern California, a place she’s called home for more than fifty-five years and is still trying to understand. She had a long career with the postal service, which might be genetic—both her grandfathers were railway mail clerks. She sorted mail, sold stamps, worked in the accounting office, and went to night school, eventually earning a degree in business administration, a CPA license, and a Certificate in Internal Auditing.
She currently serves on the advisory boards of Citric Acid, An Orange County Literary Arts Quarterly, and LibroMobile, An Arts Cooperative and Bookstore in Santa Ana, California. She’s a member of Women Writing the West, Women Who Submit, and Women for Orange County. Mary lives in Huntington Beach, California with her husband, who plays ukulele, and their terrorist cat Riley, who makes frequent appearances on Instagram.
© 2003-2026