Marianna Mayer (born in New York City on November 8, 1945) is a well-known children’s book writer and artist from Roxbury, Connecticut. Her early education was in the field of the visual arts. After one year of college, she became a student painter at the Art Students League in New York City.[1] Her first book was published when she was nineteen years old.[2] She is known for her retellings of folk and fairy tales.[3] She is the author of Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave and her written versions of Pegasus, and The Twelve Dancing Princesses.[2] She was the first wife of the famous illustrator, Mercer Mayer.