Mari is a visual artist who studied Graphic Fine Art at PE Technicon for five years. She is known for writing in different genres - including romantic novels, of which 8 had all ready been published by Lapa Publishers. Some of her children's books are translated in several different languages, which includes Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. She is currently busy completing her third poetry book. Mari loves nature (especially the sea), children and all animals. She has one daughter, Cecily Nel, who is also quite artistic and a excellent accompanist and music teacher. She is married to Danie Snyman and lives with him, his daughter Danell and the family dog, Mister Gino. She recently recieved the Via-Africa M.E.R. literally -award for the best iilustrated children's book and shared the prize of R30 000 with her illustrator, Elizabeth Pulles. She finds her inspiration from nature, people, books, magazines and her steph-grandchild Dillon Snyman. She was born-and-bred with a house full of books and parents who understands the importance of education and a background of art and culture.