Maria Hilda Pinon  is a native of South Texas.  Born in the border city of Laredo, she currently resides in San Antonio, Texas.  She is a licensed psychotherapist, and has an educational background in nursing, spiritual direction, life coaching and psychology with a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology.  She currently conducts workshops and seminars, is adjunct faculty at the psychology department of the community college and keeps a private practice for counseling and spiritual direction.      
    She has an extensive involvement in community and church ministerial programs. The expansive work of over thirty-five years include, pastoral programs, religious education, jail ministry, medical mission work in Latin America, and local and national Catholic television production.  For ten years she produced, wrote and hosted the program of Prismas Culturaleson Catholic Television of San Antonio (CTSA), did live broadcast for the program series Building Community as well as the writing, hosting and production of the program entitled Caminando Mano a Mano. This Spanish language program series, for Hispanics and by Hispanics was broadcast on national television (EWTN) for three years. The focus of the series is building stronger relationships in love. Through a grant from the Bishops of Texas, this series was sent to all chaplaincy departments at all the federal prisons in the USA and all prisons/jails in Texas.  It was accompanied by a study guide for use in prison.     
    Maria Hilda has three children, Adriana Cecilia, a graduate of Harvard and Columbia Law School who lives in New York City, Fernando David, graduate in Fine Arts from the University of Texas, Austin who resides in La Jolla, California, and Veronica Lucia, graduate of Loyola Marymount and The University of London. Her residence is in London, England. The Willows of Corona is her first novel.  Other publications include Candles in the Dark...Poems to grieve, hope and love again.