Evans attended the University of Toledo where she majored in fashion design. The fashion design major did not hold her interest and she left the University of Toledo without a degree. Evans began a series of teaching appointments in American universities in 1969. During 1969-1970, she served as writer in residence at Indiana University-Purdue, where she taught courses in African American Literature. The next year, Evans accepted a position as the writer in residence at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. From 1968-1973, Evans produced, wrote and directed the television program called "The Black Experience" for WTTV in Indianapolis, Indiana. Evans received an honorary degree from Marion College in 1975. Evans continued her teaching career at Purdue (1978—1980), at Washington University in Saint Louis (1980), at Cornell University (1981—85) at the State-University of New York — Albany (1985—1986).

Mari Evans has written several poems, short fiction stories, children’s books, and plays. She is known for her many poems. One, called "When In Rome", is taught in many high schools and college English classes. The poem ends, "I'm tired of eatin' what they eats in Rome." The last line provides the poem with its famous title. It is a dialogue poem, between Mattie and her possible slave owner, offering her unfamiliar foods in the pantry. She is also well known for the line, "I have never been contained except I made the prison." Mari Evans was a part of the Black Arts Movement. The BAM poets spread the message of Black cultural, psychological, and economical liberation. In 1970, Evans wrote “I am a Black Woman.” The second stanza reads, “I am a black woman tall as a cypress strong beyond all definition still defying place and timeand circumstance assailed impervious indestructible.” Evans spoke of the need to make Blackness both beautiful and powerful.

Other books of poems and poetry include:

• Night Star 1973-1978 (1981)
• Where is the Music (1968)
• A Dark and Splendid Mass, Harlem River Press (1992)
• I am a Black Woman (1970)

Children's books include:

• Dear Corinne, Tell Somebody! Love, Annie: A book about secrets (1999)
• Jim Flying High (1979)
• J.D. (1973)
• Singing Black: Alternative Nursery Rhymes for Children (1998)
• Rap Stories (1974)

Plays include

• Eyes, a musical based on Their Eyes Were Watching God (1979)
• River of My Song (1977)
• Potrait of a Man (1979)
• Boochie (1979)

Mari Evans is an activist for prison reform. She is against corporal punishment. She works with theater groups and local community organizations.

John Hay Whitney Fellow, 1965-66Woodrow Wilson Foundation Grant, 1968Indiana University Writers Conference Award, 1970First Annual Poetry Award, Black Academy of Arts and Letters, 1970Copeland Fellow, Amherst College, 1980National Endowment for the Arts grant, 1981-82Photo put on Ugandan postage stamp, 1997Nominated for a Grammy Award for the liner notes she wrote for The Long Road Back To Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music, 2002