Mary Ethna Black is a public health doctor and writer from Lambeg in Northern Ireland. A medical globe-trotter, she has judged silver salmon in Alaska, mapped the Belize Barrier Reef, and raised two children with the oarsman who saved her life from pirates in the Bay of Bengal.

Splav – Adventures with my family on the River Sava will be published by Abacus in August 2026. A memoir, it is her first book. Welcome to catfish, coffee and chaos. 

Since taking up creative writing in 2018, she has won or listed for over 30 prizes. Blood and Roses connects her war work in Belfast and Bosnia (2021 Fish Publishing Short Memoir prize). Steam links ghosts and beach saunas in Kerry (2023 Globe Soup Short story award.)  The Thaw is based around Alaska and the Aurora Borealis (2024 London Independant short story prize). Pirates (2025 inaugural Edinburgh essay prize) explains why she married her husband.

Mary is a Fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians UK and the Faculty of Public Health UK. She holds a doctorate in global household surveys from Trinity College Dublin, a master’s degree in Health Policy and Management from Harvard, and completed a masters degree in Creative & Life Writing from Goldsmiths in 2024.

Her focus now is on addressing climate change and writing. She is an Honorary Professor in the School of Medicine at St Andrew’s University, Non-executive Director of both the UK National Centre for Atmospheric Science and the UK National Centre for Earth Observation, Board Member of Patient Classification Systems International, Director of the MCS Foundation (green energy installation and standards), and Member of the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee.

Mary is represented by Emma Bal at Madeleine Milburn Literary and TV Agency.