Selected Works1. Novel
The Turk and My Mother
Hilarious and moving, a masterful debut novel about a Milwaukee immigrant family's secret history. 2. Fiction (short stories)
Self Storage and Other Stories
In these nine stories, “the familiar world is both funnier and sadder than it seems.” --Kalamazoo Gazette 3. Creative Non-Fiction
In the Middle of the Middle West: Literary Nonfiction from the Heartland
A rich and comprehensive collection of literary writings about the Midwest. 4. Short Fiction
A Different Plain
Contemporary Nebraska Fiction Writers
Anthology of short fiction by Nebraska writers edited by Ladette Randolph, with an introduction by Mary Pipher |
Biography Mary Helen Stefaniak Photo by Andrew Marinkovich MARY HELEN STEFANIAK, a native of Milwaukee, is a writer of fiction and essays. Her work has appeared in many publications, including The Iowa Review, EPOCH, Short Story, The Yale Review, AGNI, and The Antioch Review, and in several anthologies, including New Stories from the South: The Year's Best 2000 & 2006 (Algonquin Books), In the Middle of the Middle West: An Anthology of Creative Non-Fiction (Indiana University Press, 2003), and A Different Plain (University of Nebraska Press, 2004). She has also served as a commentator on Iowa Public Radio, a columnist for The Iowa Source, and a contributing editor of The Iowa Review. Her collection of short fiction, Self Storage and Other Stories (New Rivers Press), received the Wisconsin Library Association's 1998 Banta Award for Literary Excellence, and her novella, "The Turk and My Mother" (EPOCH, Fall 2000) was shortlisted for the O. Henry Prize. The Turk and My Mother received the 2005 John Gardner Fiction Book Award from Binghamton University, and it was recognized by the Wisconsin Library Association for Outstanding Literary Achievement. The novel is available in translation from publishers in Italy (Einaudi 2007), Israel (Carmel 2007), Turkey (Yakamoz Yayincilik Reklamcilik Matbaa Dagitim), Hungary (Geopin Konyvkiado 2005), the Netherlands (Mouria 2005), and Indonesia (Gramedia 2006). The Norton paperback edition of The Turk and My Mother (2005) includes a Reader's Guide which features a cast of characters and a key to pronunciation of Croatian and Hungarian words that appear in the novel. An interview offers some glimpses into the process of writing a work of fiction that is inspired by family history. Mary Helen has presented workshops and readings from Florida to Alaska. At Schwartz Bookshop in the Bay View area of Milwaukee, readers received a "walking tour" map of Bay View sites featured in The Turk and My Mother. She has spoken with many book clubs and reading groups. A graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop and fourteen-year veteran of the Iowa Summer Writing Festival faculty, she teaches at Creighton University in Omaha. Contact her at mhstefaniak@ |
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