About me

Alexandria, Louisiana, is Marian Nevill’s hometown, where she grew up two blocks from Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic School and graduated from Providence Central High School. After attending business college, she married and raised three children with her husband of fifty-nine years. Following her retirement in 2002, she began her second act, fulfilling a lifelong dream of becoming an author by bringing to life the stories playing in her head.

Marian has taken part in several writers’ groups sponsored by the Rapides Parish Library, which have helped hone her craft. She is a member of the Cenla Authors’ Club, which meets once a month and gathers aspiring and experienced authors who support each other through the writing journey, from manuscript development to publication. 

She was honored to be Rapides Parish Library’s Author of the Month in October 2023 and has been featured in Alexandria’s Town Talk newspaper and Cenla Focus Magazine, a community publication in Central Louisiana. One of her short stories took third place in LSUA’s 2024 Flash Fiction Contest, and another was published in the Writer’s Guild of Acadia’s Louisiana Treasury of Louisiana Authors, Vol. 2. Two of her poems were selected for publication in LSUA’s 2025 Verbatim booklet in celebration of Poetry Month. She is also involved with Spectral Sisters Productions, a nonprofit theater organization that accepts play submissions for its twice-a-year 10-minute play festivals.

Marian has written three novels and a fourth, which is a novella. The first two novels, “Do You Believe In Magic?” and “Land Of The Giants,” are in the magical realism genre. The third, “Leo’s War,” is both historical and personal, featuring her father, uncle, and grandmother, and is set in early-twentieth-century Alexandria. A historical marker honoring Leo Ortego, the subject of “Leo’s War,” has been placed at the Alexandria International Airport in recognition of his revolutionary idea that led to the success of the helicopter and the patent he received for the world’s first manned helicopter.

The novella, “Heart Of A Lion,” is a retelling of the stories her grandmother told her as a child, probably thinking they would go no further than the kitchen. It recounts her upbringing on Magnolia Plantation in Derry, Louisiana, and her family’s move to Alexandria. In addition to the novella, Marian added a few short stories and poems to the book.

All four books are available on Amazon and through her website, menevill.com.