Amer's painted ball

Maria Tsoga was born in Australia, but she can only remember her life in Greece. She is married and has a young son. She lives and works in Athens, which she loves, but she still visits Epirus, where she was raised. For years, she has been working in Education, practicing her studied professions – as a preschool educator and, often enough, as an English language teacher; she teaches really young children, as well as really “old”, in elementary schools, middle schools, independent tutorials and, even, Second Chance schools (for adults); an experience that, she claims, changed her view of educations. She has always loved fairy tales, stories the adults were recounting, those her friends would tell her and, later, even her students; stories that became songs and those she herself was reading. In 2007 her children’s book Amer’s Painted Ball was published by Patakis Publisher and, in 2011, her short story was awarded by the Greek-Australian Short Story Awards in Melbourne.