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HUNTINGTON Marie Manilla has been selected as the 2021 Appalachian Heritage Writer-in-Residence, and her award-winning novel, âThe Patron Saint of Ugly,â was chosen as the One Book One West Virginia Common Read Author.
The Huntington native moved to Texas after college, working as a graphic designer and seeking to learn about other cultures within the United States, but soon found people were more alike than different, she said. After earning her master of fine arts, she returned to West Virginia and began writing seriously, initially considering herself a short story writer and publishing in a range of journals, exploring what she calls âthose pivotal moments in charactersâ lives that forever change them for better or worse.â