Merle grew up listening to stories, poetry, and music, and began to write short stories, poetry, and plays in the third grade. She has been committed to the music and magic of the spoken and printed word ever since. Her favorite writers are Louisa May Alcott, Jorge Luis Borges, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Par Lägerkvist, Anne Tyler, Les Von Losberg, and W.B. Yeats. Her favorite filmmakers are Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, and Akira Kurosawa. She loves music -- Schubert, Schumann, and Wolf lieder; medieval, Renaissance, and classical Western European music; Celtic and British Isles traditional music; American blues and Appalachian folk music, and much more -- and plays simple folk instruments -- dulcimer, penny whistle, Celtic folk harp, American Indian plains flute, bowed psaltery -- and a bit of keyboard.