The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Marianna Mayer

What I learned about Slavic mythology helped to deepen my understanding of the story. While working on Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave, for example, I read all I could about Russia. I try to become part of the culture of a particular tale as much as possible. 'While in the midst of a writing project, I live so much in my mind that what takes place in my imagination becomes quite real to me.

She explains, 'I began to feel more freedom when using words as my paints and plots as my canvases. Gradually, she shifted to the written word as a medium of expression. Her experiences as an artist provided many images that she began to incorporate into writing. After college, she studied painting at the Art Students League in New York City. And then I decided to start writing a book, at the age of nine.' She published her first book at the age of nineteen. My sister and I put on plays made up from my stories. 'I liked to tell stories with pictures and compose music. 'It seems to me there was never a time when I didn't want to be an artist, ' she says. Though widely known as a children's book writer, Marianna Mayer's early education focused on visual art. And, much as an oyster must be disturbed by a grain of sand in order for the pearl to be created, I often choose to retell stories in which I find unresolved fragments that are somehow perplexing to me.' 'They are a kind of collective dreaming, filled with timeless symbols and images we can all relate to, regardless of age or culture. 'I see folktales and myths as humankind's first stories,' says Marianna Mayer. Marianna Mayer lives in Roxbury, Connecticut.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Marianna Mayer