Marietta Apollonio was born in Tarrytown, New York. She spent most of her childhood making mud pies, swinging on rope swings attached to questionable trees, dancing, and recreating her grandmother’s paintings. She moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to earn her degree in Illustration from The Art Institute of Boston (now Lesley University College of Art and Design), where she spent a considerable amount of time sketching at the Museum of Fine Arts, writing random essays in her notebook, and searching for the best cannoli. She creates all of her illustrations using multiple mediums, including watercolor, color pencil, graphite, ink, and sometimes tea (accidentally). Marietta spends much of her time in her studio drawing and writing, in the backyard making mud pies with her son, hiking, gardening, and trying to keep the squirrels from eating all of the peaches off the tree. She lives in central Massachusetts (though still very much a New Yorker) with her husband, son, and husky.