Mary Otis is the author of the novel, Burst, as well as the short story collection, Yes, Yes, Cherries (Tin House Books). Her stories and essays have been published in Best New American Voices, Electric Literature, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, and in many literary journals and anthologies. She has recently published poetry in Zyzzyva along with poems forthcoming in the Bennington Review.

The New York Times has said of her work, “Sadness and humor sidle up to each other, evocative of the delicate balance of melancholy and wit found in Lorrie Moore’s stories.” Her story "Pilgrim Girl" received an Honorable Mention for the Pushcart Prize, and her story "Unstruck" was a Distinguished Story of the Year in Best American Short Stories.

She was a Walter Dakin Fellow and received a Getty Foundation Scholarship. Mary attended Bennington College and was a founding fiction professor in the UC Riverside Low-Residency MFA Program where she taught for twelve years.

Originally from the Boston area, Mary lives in Los Angeles.