West Virginia Women Writers: Marilyn Shank

State Library Services
1900 Kanawha Blvd. E.
Culture Center, Building 9
Charleston, WV 25305

Phone: (304) 558-2045
Email: wvlcref@wv.gov

Marilyn Sue Shank earned her Ph.D. in special education from the University of Kansas, where she majored in learning disabilities and behavior disorders and minored in counseling psychology and families with disabilities. She has taught general and special education at elementary, secondary and college levels.

Marilyn has published in professional journals and co-authored the first four editions of Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Today's Schools. Child of the Mountains, her first novel, takes place in West Virginia during the 1950s. She wrote Tanner Truck and Bella Tree, a picture e-book, to help her great-niece and -nephew cope with the loss of their grandmother and great-grandfather. Marilyn lives in West Virginia with her three rescued dogs.