Marlene Bumgarner

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Long Bio:

Marlene Bumgarner’s first book, The Book of Whole Grains (St. Martin’s Press, 1976), grew out of teaching cultural history to fourth graders.  After publication, she wrote a weekly food column for the San Jose Mercury News and a bimonthly feature for Mothering Magazine, where she was a contributing editor. A series of cooking classes followed, then a natural food store and newsletter and a second book, Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Mothers (Chesbro Press, 1982). Marlene also contributed chapters to Real Food Places to Eat (Rodale, 1976) and The Peoples’ Cook Book (St. Martins, 1977).   A return to graduate school led to a career teaching developmental psychology and educational theory to undergraduates, and the publication of Working With School Age Children, first published in 2003 by Mayfield/McGraw Hill, then acquired and revised by Pearson in 2009. A second edition of the Pearson text was published in December 2015. Meanwhile, St Martin’s Press revised and republished Marlene’s first book as The New Book of Whole Grains (1997). That book is now available in e-book format.  Now retired from full time teaching, Marlene is the author of Back to the Land in Silicon Valley (2020), her memoir about raising children, animals and vegetables on a rural plot of land in the 1970s.  Meanwhile,  she is polishing her first novel and researching a book about 21st century grandparenting.  Marlene posts a monthly blog on related topics and sends a regular newsletter to subscribers. When not writing, Marlene speaks to parent groups, teacher in-services and conferences, and walks beside the ocean with her companion Border Collie, Kismet. She still grows, prepares and eats organic food, and is happy to share her recipes.

Short Bio:

Marlene Bumgarner is the author of Back to the Land in Silicon Valley (Paper Angel Press, 2020). She blogs at https://marlenebumgarner.com about gardening, natural foods, grandparenting and more. Most recently, Marlene taught undergraduate courses on developmental psychology and educational theory at Gavilan College in Gilroy. She is currently at work on her first novel, as well as a book about 21st century grandparenting. She is releasing an updated and revised edition of her second book, Organic Cooking for (Not-So-Organic) Parents, to be published by Paper Angel Press in 2022. A long-time resident of the Bay Area, she now lives in Calabasas, CA, with her Border Collie, Kismet and enjoys spending time in her organic garden, when she is not helping to care for her grandchildren.

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Marlene is available for speaking engagements. Media inquiries can be directed to marlenebumgarner@gmail.com.