Mary Kay

Mary Kay with curly dark hair and chestnut skin wearing a white shirt and pinstriped pants standing next to a glass-fronted wooden display cabinet with clothing inside in a decorated room.

Mary Kay McBrayer is a writer, folklorist, and lifelong collector of strange, beguiling things. She writes at the crossroads of horror, history, and the corners of the human heart. Whether she’s dissecting the grotesque, unearthing forgotten women, or finding humor beneath the macabre, her work invites readers into a world where the past breathes and the shadows have stories to tell.

Mary Kay standing in front of a display of numerous small perfume bottles in a display case, with a wall behind her showing a diagram of olfactory notes and aromas.

When she isn’t writing, she’s traveling, eating and drinking well, screening films, mothering, or rescuing unusual antiques from estate sales.

Close-up of Mary Kay with curly black hair, chestnut skin, red lipstick, and a gold heart necklace against a pink background.

  • “Everywhere” is a cop-out, so let me be specific about the range. Because I like to go to things, like museums and house parties, and I like to watch and read and listen to old media, those places are usually where my interest is piqued. Like when I saw Stephanie St. Clair’s photo on the wall of the Museum of the American Gangster. Or I’ll be at the Fox Theater on a tour, and the guide mentions the commissioned art deco lamps, and then I fall into a research rabbit hole on the way home. Or maybe a song plays for a few seconds during a period piece, and turns out, that artist was a big pop icon during the ‘60s in France. Being a good observer is really the start.

  • That question was auto-generated so I’m going to instead answer, “Why do you look like you do?” and “What’s your education?” because thank you but that’s what people are usually asking.

    My mother’s family is Lebanese. My dad’s family is (mostly) Scots-Irish. Not to perpetuate stereotypes, but if you ever want to passionately debate over a firm opinion about something innocuous like the matte finish of lipstick (DEPLORABLE), that’s what my Punnet Squares have genetically prepared me to do. And I will do it in such impeccable prose that you will, probably, cave.

    I have a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, focusing in Nonfiction, from Georgia College & State University. My Bachelors’ is in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of West Georgia. I also taught literature and creative writing everywhere from higher education to nerd summer camp.

  • In actuality, it slowed me down, big time. Now, because we’re exploiting our parents’ spare time for childcare, I spend a lot of my days with the baby. That means, I don’t have time to squeeze something in. That means, if I’m writing, I’m making time to do it, so I am very intentional about how I use my energy. I wouldn’t say I wrote fluff stuff very often before, but now? Never.

    And I’ve identified as a feminist since I understood what that word actually meant, but now? Let me just say that “Macduff was from his mother’s womb / untimely ripped” does not mean he was not of woman born. That is horse shit, Shakespeare, and no real witch would have split hairs like that. And by the way, the Weird Sisters were not witches, or they were at least misquoted in addition to misrepresented—though I do like the maiden-matron-crone trifecta as a trope, and the creation of life is long-con magic, so in a sense we are all of us witches. And now you hurt. Also it was not their fault that Macbeth interpreted their prophecy how he did. He just wanted a reason to kill motherfuckers, and there they were. (See above, Punnet Squares.)