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Marian Schembari

Biography

Marian Schembari

Marian Schembari's first byline was at age 11 in Highlights for Kids. It was a poem about dragons. Since then, Marian’s essays about travel, friendship, money and love have appeared in the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Good Housekeeping. At 34 years old, Marian was diagnosed with autism. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and daughter.

Marian Schembari

Books by Marian Schembari

by Marian Schembari - Memoir, Nonfiction

Marian Schembari was 34 years old when she learned she was autistic. By then, she'd spent decades hiding her tics and shutting down in public, wondering why she couldn't just act like everyone else. Therapists told her she had Tourette's syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, sensory processing disorder, social anxiety and recurrent depression. They prescribed breathing techniques and gratitude journaling. Nothing helped. It wasn't until years later that she finally learned the truth: she wasn't weird or deficient or moody or sensitive or broken. She was autistic. In this deeply personal and researched memoir, Schembari's journey takes her from the mountains of New Zealand to the tech offices of San Francisco, from her first love to her first child, all with unflinching honesty and good humor.