STOTKO, Mary-Ann 1960-

Personal

Born December 21, 1960, in Johannesburg, South Africa; daughter of Lorenz (a hairdresser) and Rosa (a homemaker; maiden name, Huber) Penkler; married Michael Stotko (an IT specialist), February 27, 1982; children: Stephan, Thomas, Suzanne. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Rand Afrikaans University, B.A., 1982; University of South Africa, Higher Education Diploma (postgraduate), 1984; University of South Africa, B.A. (with honors), 1991, M.A. (English), 2004. Religion: Christian.

Addresses

Home— Ebenried 33, 86554 Pöttmes, Germany. Office— c/o Author Mail, Gareth Stevens, Inc., 330 West Olives St., No. 100, Milwaukee, WI 53212. E-mail— mike@stotko.de.

Career

Author and educator. Teacher at Holy Cross Convent, 1982-84, and King Edward VII School, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1984-85; adult education teacher in German Volkshochschule, 1994-98; EFL teacher at City Language School, Singapore, 1995-2001; modern foreign-language teacher at Ticehurst House Priory, England, 2002-03; language trainer for kmp Sprachenser-vices, Augsburg, Germany, 2004.

Writings

South Africa, Gareth Stevens Pub. (Milwaukee, WI), 2002.

(With Umaima Mulla-Feroze) Welcome to South Africa, Gareth Stevens Pub. (Milwaukee, WI), 2003.

Work in Progress

A novel on German nationals imprisoned in South Africa during World War II, based on the experiences of my father and his correspondence with his brother in Austria at the time.

Sidelights

German citizen Mary-Ann Stotko provides children with what School Library Journal reviewer Sue Giffard called a "clearly written" study of South Africa in the appropriately titled book South Africa. Born in Johannesburg, Stotko educates young readers in the geography, government, culture, and complex political and social history of the country of her birth. As Brenda Randolph noted in an online review for H-Net, while, "Like most children's books on South Africa, the retelling of early South African history is unbalanced," ultimately Stotko's text is "generally accurate." Giffard noted as a particularly helpful aspect of the book that Stotko crafts her text to make it "accessible to a slightly younger audience" than many books on the subject. South Africa was published as part of publisher Gareth Stevens' "Countries of the World" series in 2002, and the following year the text was adapted by Stotko and co-author Umaima Mulla-Feroze as Welcome to South Africa.

Stotko told Something about the Author: "I grew up in South Africa, which is where I feel I belong, despite my German passport. I have also lived in several countries due to my husband's job. This close contact with different cultures and nationalities has broadened my outlook and made me see life, myself, and the country of my birth in a new, ever-changing light, and has had a profound impact on my writing."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

School Library Journal, August, 2002, Sue Giffard, review of South Africa, p. 218.

ONLINE

H-Net, http://www.h-net.msu.edu/ (June 1, 2004), Brenda Randolph, review of South Africa.