Family conflict. Self help book. Alcohol abuse.
Mary Ylvisaker Nilsen, writer, teacher, publisher, and spiritual director, has a graduate degree in Literary Non-Fiction from The University of Iowa and another in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. In addition, she is a certified Enneagram instructor and a spiritual director.
Mary Nilsen has published Christian education materials through Winston Press and Augsburg Fortress, and articles in a variety of journals, including The Lutheran, The Other Side, and Word and World. Her first novel, When A Bough Breaks: Mending the Family Tree, published by Hazelden and Harper and Row, traces a family's journey through a family treatment program after discovering their son was addicted. She is listed in the International Authors and Writers Who's Who, 10th, 11th, and 12th editions.
In addition, Nilsen has spent years teaching prose style, metaphor, fiction and non-fiction writing at The University of Iowa, and week-long writing courses for the Iowa Summer Writing Festival and in her home city, Des Moines, Iowa. Mary has brought her passion for teaching literary writing to various seminaries including Luther Seminary, Columbia Seminary, The Graduate Theological Union, and Princeton. Currently she teaches "Words that Sing" and "Words that Sing II" at the Collegeville Institute. These courses focus on advanced literary skills. She and her husband work together leading Enneagram retreats for church staffs.
