Mary R. Ladd

Mary “Merv” Ladd’s writing has appeared in Playboy, Time Magazine/Extra Crispy, KQED, Attention Span Media, SF Weekly, and in five anthologies. You may have seen her onstage at Litquake, the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, Breast Cancer Action, and Bay Area Young Survivors (BAYS) events.

Mary is a San Francisco Writers Grotto member and collaborated with Anthony Bourdain on his Bay Area episodes of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.

She booked hundreds of extras for the movie Scream, directed by the late Wes Craven (the nicest guy in Hollywood), and has catered and helped plan logistics for hundreds of events.

On a school tour of the California Culinary Academy, Mary watched chef Hervé Le Biavant ably demonstrate how to properly slice an onion to a packed ballroom. On the spot, she ditched her semi-promising marketing temp job and signed up for cooking school, and went on to be a food writer and blogger.

The Wig Diaries Is Mary’s first book.

Mary is a UC Berkeley graduate who likes to dance-walk with her adorable dog or eat pizza with family. She was born in San Francisco and grew up in Benicia and Vallejo, California.