Mary Helen Stefaniak

Reading on the loveliest corner in Omaha

June 2, 2010

Tags: Omaha, Duchesne, Cailiffs, Theo Boykin, Baghdad, Georgia

If you’d like to know why Georgia and Baghdad occur together on the cover and in the pages of The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia, you can watch a quick and casual video of the author (me) talking about the book on the red stone steps at the corner of the Duchesne high school campus, with the crab apple trees in full bloom behind me and only the occasional passing car to compete with. In a second short video made in the same spot, I only stumble once while reading a little bit about Theo Boykin from the book. Search for Stefaniak on YouTube.

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Selected Works

Novel
A hidden history of the South emerges when a worldly teacher leads Threestep, GA, to reinvent itself as “Baghdad.”
Hilarious and moving, a masterful debut novel about a Milwaukee immigrant family's secret history.
Short Fiction
"Every story I have ever written is in some sense an argument with Flannery O'Connor, as well as a tribute to her. This story happens to be the only one that mentions her by name."--MHS
Short stories by Nebraska writers edited by Ladette Randolph, with an introduction by Mary Pipher
Fiction (short stories)
In these nine stories, “the familiar world is both funnier and sadder than it seems.”
--Kalamazoo Gazette
Creative Non-Fiction
A rich and comprehensive collection of literary writings about the Midwest.