Tell Your Stories creates personal history heirloom books, helps writers complete their own memoirs, and offers autobiography classes. Devoted to preserving lives through the written word, Tell Your Stories uses the expertise of professional interviewers, transcribers, editors, graphic designers and bookbinders to create beautiful books that will be treasured for many lifetimes.

Mary Johnston, founder of Tell Your Stories, has always loved books. In her fourteen years of teaching high school English and another fourteen as an editor and personal historian, she has acquired her share.

Like any teacher worth her salt, she has the classics—everything from Hamlet to Catcher in the Rye. And like any editor worth hiring, she has a well-worn Chicago Manual of Style and a wide array of grammar books.

And just as you would expect of a personal historian, she has many shelves of biographies and memoirs—books that have helped her walk in other people’s shoes all across this globe. Mary’s mind is filled with these stories and her heart with the storytellers.

While you could find most of her books at a library or bookstore, there are others—like her ancestors’ journals, letter collections, and life stories—that only a handful of people have. Mary has inherited not only their writings but also her their passion for family and personal history. She has published multiple personal essays and has helped countless clients write their own stories. A host of their books sit on her shelves.

One book tells the story of Czech refugee during World War II and another of a Southern belle whose eyes were opened during the Civil Rights Movement. Most treasured in her collection is her father’s memoir. When he was diagnosed with cancer, the two of them devoted his remaining time to writing his life story. It was this experience that swept Mary out of the classroom into people’s living rooms. She wants to fill her bookcase with your lives, your stories.