About

Mara Purl is the best-selling author of The Milford-Haven Novels, which, collectively, have won 60-plus literary awards. Her serial novels are uniquely structured to suit new media formats and have reopened a trail blazed by Charles Dickens. Yet it is with women Mara has truly found her U.S. market. She has a loyal following in the Women’s Fiction genre, and has become a spokeswoman both for authors and for readers of Women’s Fiction.

Mara’s novels are based on her successful radio drama Milford-Haven, U.S.A.,the first environmental radio soap opera, and the only American radio soap ever licensed and broadcast by the BBC, where the show reached an audience of 4.5 million listeners throughout the U.K. Along with producing sixty episodes of her BBC show, Mara also produces and performs audio books. She has won awards for performing her own novels, and for narrating others' works.

Purl is also the co-author, with Erin Gray, of Act Right: a Manual for the On-Camera Actor. It’s also an award-winner, and the authors are working on its second revised edition. Mara’s screen-writing includes The Meridian Factor, co-written with Verne Nobles, 150 radio plays, scripts for Guiding Light, and a television adaptation of Milford-Haven co-written with Katherine Shirek Doughtie.

As a journalist, Mara's writing credits include two cover stories for Rolling Stone, staff writing with the Financial Times (of London), and an Associated Press assignment to cover the Apollo Soyuz mission, where she was the youngest reporter ever to win the NASA pool position in Mission Control. She is a member of the Authors Guild and of the Writers Guild West.

As an actress, Mara’s regular role on the TV soap opera Days Of Our Lives opened the door for her to create her own soap. Mara was awarded the 2003 Peak Award for performing her one-woman play (co-written with Sydney Swire) Mary Shelley - In Her Own Words.

Mara was named Woman of the Year by the Los Angeles County Commission for Women.

Other Works

  • Where the Heart Lives

    2022

Awards and Recognition

  • American Fiction Award, Benjamin Franklin Award, ForeWord Book Of the Year Award, National Indie Excellence Award, USA Book News Best Book Award, International Book Award, USA Regional Book Award, Beverly Hills Book Award, Southern California Book Award, Global EBook Award, Pinncacle Award, Maincrest Media Award