Stevi Mittman started out life as Stephanie, went through the unfortunate "Steffi" phase in elementary school (which ended when she was romantically linked to a boy with the last name Kotoff and they became known as Stuffy Nose and Kot Snot!), and finally wound up "Stevi" as soon as her figure established that she wasn't a boy. In high school she met the love of her life (as she generally refers to him after over 35 years of marriage), and they had two wonderful children. Shortly after baby #2 was born, looking for something that didn't require re-doing (like laundry, meals, and dishes) she took up stained glass and found that it came to her naturally. Within weeks she was doing complicated projects and, inspired by her daughter, made a Victorian doll house completely out of glass. She entered it in the Washington Square Art Show in New York City, an annual event she'd often attended with her father, and took First Place in Stained Glass and Best in Show for Crafts. The doll house, completely furnished, is now part of the permanent collection of the Museum of the City of New York. As much as she enjoyed stained glass, writing took over her attention after a trip without a good book to read. On the way home she offered her son and husband the use of her studio space for a pool table. "I'm going to write novels," she said, "and I won't need the studio anymore." And write she did. As Stephanie Mittman, she wrote a total of eight romance novels for HarperCollins and Dell. Then, after a move to upstate New York a few years ago, she began penning a novel about life on Long Island, where she was raised and where, cumulatively, she probably spent years at the mall. Her visits back to Long Island invariably include shopping time. Only now she calls it "research," since her newest books, under "Stevi" Mittman, are set in Syosset, the town where she and her husband raised their children. She still does some stained glass-a new doll house is part of the holiday tradition at the Johnson Museum at Cornell University- but now spends most of her days writing with a cat keeping her lap warm. She loves cooking, especially Asian food, and throws a big dumpling party every winter for a few dozen friends. Then too, Stevi enjoys decorating , making jewelry, and doing all sorts of crafts. She and her husband travel frequently to visit their children and partners on the West Coast, where the malls are as good as Long Island-almost.
