Mary Bryan Stafford grew up in South Texas and was a niece in the infamous family of patrón George Parr, the Duke of Duval. She is seventh generation Texan and, although a member of The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, she wandered away for a while and graduated from The College of William and Mary in Virginia with degrees in English and Spanish. She taught school in Corpus Christi and Round Rock and Lake Travis High School. She and her husband live the Hill Country where she spends her time writing and training her two horses. She is an award-winning author whose work has been recognized multiple times in writing contests throughout the country, including a quarterfinalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. Her work is included in the anthologies Women Write about the Southwest, winner of the Willa Award and the anthology The Greatest Generation and many times in the Texas Poetry Calendar.