About Stephanie

Stephanie Theban loves stories. Her mother read Winnie the Pooh to her, acting out all the characters. For Stephanie, Eeyore will always have a Texas drawl and Roo an excited squeak. In sixth grade, Stephanie read Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me by E.L. Konigsburg, and inspired by the book, initiated one of her classmates as a witch. She made up tasks for the initiate to perform, one of which was to move the bed from the wall and walk around it three times counterclockwise before going to bed each evening.

For a class assignment, Stephanie wrote a description of her home which made her middle-class home sound like it was a shack in the woods. Everything she wrote was true, but by emphasizing certain details and omitting certain facts, she created a different world. Stephanie loved the ability to make others see her vision. Her mother was horrified that she had portrayed her home as something other than respectable and normal.

In stories, Stephanie found friends, inspiration, and hope. A desire to bring stories to others grew within her. Also in sixth grade, she wrote a short story about a witch. Picasso had his blue period; Stephanie had her witch era.

Stephanie worked for many years as a lawyer, where her writing talents were used for briefs, papers designed to persuade. Although this work was challenging and rewarding, she missed writing fiction. Believing that stories for children were the most important stories, she joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and began to learn the art and craft of writing fiction for children.

Stephanie has received recognition in the Oklahoma Writers Foundation, Inc. writing contest and as the winner of the Nita Buckley Award.

Stephanie’s picture book, Alfred, was published by Doodle and Peck Publishing Company in 2019. Three of her poems were included in an anthology, The Working Man’s Hand, published by Fine Dog Press in 2023.