Autor: Miss Marilyn

Author “Miss Marilyn” is the pen name for Marilyn Burcham. She is eighty-two years old; married most of her life; has four children, eleven grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren. She somehow dreamed up the name Rufi because of her German ancestry. Marilyn’s father was born in Switzerland with German parents. Marilyn has visited Germany three times and was inspired by the beauty of the Black Forest. Marilyn spent her working career in accounting and related business, maintaining administrative positions. She taught porcelain art for ten years, having become an accomplished porcelain artist. She made jewelry for a couple of years and now hopes to add “author” to her resume. Marilyn loved to draw and write little poems and stories but has never before tried to publish any of her “doodling.” “Rufi” was first written in 1992 and then set aside for years. In 2014 she revised it and decided to attempt its publication. It is Marilyn’s deepest hope that everyone enjoys her story about “Rufi, the Baby Bear.” Illustrator Athena Belford, native of New York City, has been an artist at heart since childhood. Athena earned her bachelor’s degree in studio art from Hunter College in NYC. She worked in advertising for one of the world’s top digital agencies as a graphic designer and worked her way up and became a manager of over twenty amazingly talented designers. In 2014, after eleven years in the industry, she left New York and moved to New Mexico to study animal science and finally pursue her longtime dream of working with animals. That is where she met and collaborated with Miss Marilyn and was given the opportunity to work on the illustrations for this amazingly charming children’s book.