Born in Milwaukee in 1948, Mary Schendlinger was the guiding force behind Maria Von Couver, a pseudonym for a six-member 'Power Parenting Collective' that co-wrote a semi-facetious guide to raising teenagers, Don't Say No, Just Let Go: Living With Teenagers The Power Parenting Solution (Arsenal Pulp, 1991). Other members who "have had the responsibility for a total of eleven teenagers and lived to tell about it" are Nora Randall, Sandra Currie, screenwriter Peggy Thompson and Steve Osborne. Schendlinger also co-edited Quotations from Chairman Zalm, and as Eve Corbel she was the author/illustrator of Power Parenting Your Teenager (Hysteria Publications, 1997). She has edited The Little Greenish-Brown Book of Slugs and produced numerous comics that have appeared in Geist magazine, for which she has long served as Senior Editor. Schendlinger is a widely respected freelance editor, notably as the main conduit for novels by Anne Cameron. Her juvenile guide to ten famous magicians is Prepare to be Amazed (Annick, 2005), shortlisted for the 2007 Silver Birch Award, hosted by the Ontario Library Association.

[BCBW 2006] "Editor" "Advice"