Mary Winn
Children’s & Middle Grade Author
Musical Performer and Writer
Travels from: Chicago, IL

“A winning combination of adventure, comedy, and whodunit.” — Lincoln Peirce, New York Times bestselling author

Mary Winn Heider has published 27 books, performed Off-Broadway, worked on a train in Alaska, and ridden her bike around Lake Michigan. Her books have been on state lists, appeared on Bank Street Best Books, received Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection status, been long-listed for the Edgar Award, and landed on Indies Introduce and Indie Next lists.

Mary Winn is the author of The Mortification of Fovea Munson based on her real life experiences working in a cadaver lab; she also wrote the book of the FOVEA musical for the Kennedy Center production in 2023. She is currently hard at work with the same creative team (Justin Huertas and Steven Tran) on a new musical, also for the Kennedy Center.

Mary Winn’s other novels include The Losers at the Center of the Galaxy as well as The Stupendous Switcheroo series (co-created with Chad Sell). Her picture book The Unicorns Who Saved Christmas was illustrated by Christian Cornia, and she has pseudonymously authored three chapter book series from Little Simon. Her graphic novel Bugged, a comedy-horror love letter to the theater comes out in 2025, and she’s applying to go on a scientific expedition to Antarctica for her current work-in-progress. Mary Winn has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Originally from South Carolina, she now lives in Chicago, where she helps support the creative writing residences of PlayMakers Lab.

Mary Winn's Featured Titles

The Stupendous Switcheroo #3: Can’t Go Home Again

Knopf Books for Young Readers |
Children’s

The heroic cast of rag-tag, superpowered kids are back!
In this third installment of the highly illustrated series, can the Stupendous Switcheroo change his fate from #1 undesirable prisoner to top student at the Valor Innovations Academy?

When the Stupendous Switcheroo—Switch, for short—set out to rescue his mom from supervillain jail, he never imagined he could be captured instead.

Now, Switch is plotting his escape—but a failed attempt quickly proves it’s an impossible mission. But then, mastermind Vin Valor offers Switch a bargain: he can remain a prisoner… or he can join the Valor Innovations Academy instead.

Switch is reluctant to choose between two evils—but maybe the resources at VIA will help him finally find a way back home. What he finds instead is a web of sinister secrets—and the family robot, Al, who has snuck into VIA to be Switch’s sidekick in disguise!

It turns out reclaiming his freedom isn’t the hardest mission—but figuring out where to go next sure is….

The Losers at the Center of the Galaxy

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
Middle Grade

A tuba player without a tuba and his jellyfish-imitating sister cope with their father’s disappearance in a middle-grade novel both hilarious and moving by Mary Winn Heider, the author of The Mortification of Fovea Munson. Now in paperback!

When Lenny Volpe, former quarterback of the worst professional football team in the nation, leaves his family and disappears, the Chicago Horribles win their first game in a long time. Fans are thrilled. The world seems to go back to normal. Except for the Volpe kids.

Winston throws himself into playing the tuba, and Louise starts secret experiments to find a cure for brain injuries, and they’re each fine, just fine, coping in their own way. That is, until the investigation of some eccentric teacher behavior and the discovery of a real live bear paraded as the Horribles’ new mascot make it clear that things are very much Not Fine. The siblings may just need each other, after all.

The Mortification of Fovea Munson

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
Middle Grade

“Equal parts screwball comedy, coming-of-age story, and tearjerker-I loved, loved, loved it!” –Varian Johnson, author of The Parker Inheritance

With a madcap sense of humor and a lot of heart (not to mention other body parts), The Mortification of Fovea Munson is Young Frankenstein for today’s middle grade audience! 

Fovea Munson is nobody’s Igor. True, her parents own a cadaver lab where they perform surgeries on dead bodies. And yes, that makes her gross by association, at least according to everyone in seventh grade. And sure, Fovea’s stuck working at the lab now that her summer camp plans have fallen through. But she is by no means Dr. Frankenstein’s snuffling assistant!

That is, until three disembodied heads, left to thaw in the wet lab, start talking. To her. Out loud. And they need a favor.

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We All Have Superpowers

Inspired by THE STUPENDOUS SWITCHEROO series, Mary Winn discusses the creative teamwork that led to the series, how we all feel about heroes vs. villains, and most importantly, the everyday superpowers we all have.

Small or large groups, grades 3-6
45-60 minutes

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Do No Harm

STEM meets STEAM in this talk based on THE MORTIFICATION OF FOVEA MUNSON. Mary Winn’s job in a real life cadaver lab surrounded by actual cadavers led to both a novel and a musical– but it also taught her a lot about life and how we can take care of each other.

Small or large groups, grades 3-8
45-60 minutes

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Bring on the Baddies! (Invent Your Own Villain Workshop)

After an in-depth discussion of what makes a villain work, students craft their own villains and write scenes where we get to see to see those villains in action.

Small groups, grades 4-6
45 minutes

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Sing Out, Louise! (From Page to Stage Workshop)

Students learn and implement the basics of adapting a written story into a musical. This is a multi-day workshop, and can be tailored to several different scenarios, depending on whether the students will be adapting their own work or a published text.

Small groups, grades 7-8

Mary Winn’s “For Kids” Link

Losers Book Club Guide

Honors, Awards & Recognition

THE MORTIFICATION OF FOVEA MUNSON
Indies Introduce
Indies next
Edgar Award Long List
Junior Library Guild
Illinois Reads 2019
Bank Street Best Books 2019

THE LOSERS AT THE CENTER OF THE GALAXY
Bank Street Best Books 2022
Evanston Public Library Best Books 2021
Oregon Public Library Battle of the Books 2024-5
Starred Reviews from Booklist and School Library Journal

THE STUPENDOUS SWITCHEROO SERIES
Illinois Reads 2024

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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