Mary Murray Bartolomé
Mary Murray Bartolomé (née Murray Brown) is a writer, adventurer, and teacher. She was raised in Edinburgh, graduated from Oxford University, and now teaches English and Debating to secondary school students. She writes in between work, dog walks, and climbing trips.
Mary's writing spans many genres: adult book club fiction, YA novels, short stories, flash fiction, as well as some narrative non-fiction and memoir inspired by nature and adventuring. This blog is a random assortment of musings on life's adventures, without any particular objective other than escapism and intellectual entertainment.
In 2024 Mary won the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize. She has also published a short story, How To Make Love To Fire in Panorama Magazine, and Relations, in The Phare. Her non-fiction writing has been published in Across The Margin and Prof Writing Academy.
Mary has also been shortlisted in the Bath Short Story Award, the Bridport Prize, the London Library Scholarship, the Aurora Writing Prize and the Chipping Norton Short Story Award. In 2020, she was awarded an Honours position in the Writer's College short story competition. She also won a place on the New Writing North Academy, completing a short story course with writer Susmita Bhattacharya.
Her debut novel was longlisted in the international Bath Novel Award and the Blue Pencil Agency pitch prize. In 2020 she completed the Faber Academy Writing A Novel course, and is now at work on her second novel, a YA romance, whilst seeking representation for the first.
Published Words Can Be Found In....
- “When The Hero Is The Problem”, an environmental essay, Across The Margin, 2025
- “How Judging Competitions Changed My Writing”, a craft essay, Prof Writing Academy, 2025
- “Campfire Meditations”, a short story, Alpine Fellowship, 2024
- “How To Make Love To Fire”, a short story, Panorama Journal, 2024
- “Relations”, a flash fiction, The Phare, 2024
- “Anniversary / Grief”, a personal essay, Ignatian Lit Mag, 2023
Mary is on Bluesky @murraybartolome.bsky.social and (occasionally) Good Reads
