Marianna Mayer (born 1945) is a well-known children’s book writer and artist from Roxbury, Connecticut. Her early education was in the field of the visual arts. Her first book was published when she was nineteen years old. After graduating from college, she became a student painter at the Art Students League in New York City. She was the author of Baba Yaga and Vasilisa, the Brave and her written versions of Pegasus, and The Twelve Dancing Princesses. She was the first wife of the famous illustrator, Mercer Mayer.