Maria McCann was born in Liverpool and currently lives in Somerset. She is the author of As Meat Loves Salt (Fourth Estate, 2011) an Economist Book of the Year,  The Wilding (Faber, 2010) which was longlisted for the Orange Prize and a Richard and Judy book club choice and  Ace, King, Knave (Faber, 2013).
She has contributed to various anthologies, most recently to Why Willows Weep (October 2011) and Beacons (March 2013)
Maria holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Glamorgan. For a decade she designed and delivered Creative Writing courses at Strode College before becoming a Fiction Mentor for the Arvon Foundation.
Maria has served as a judge at the Wells and Frome literary festivals and is a reader for the Annette Green Literary Consultancy.  She is also a qualified writing coach.  From September 2015 she will be Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of the West of England.