Maria-Louise Stephens nee Turnow was born in Vietow, Mecklenburg, North Germany. She was educated in Rostock and Prague. Stephens wrote poetry and stories from her adolescence and was published in Germany and England. She worked in repertory theatres in Germany. In 1944 she undertook journalistic training with a local newspaper. During 1945 Stephens worked as an interpreter for the American forces and, at the end of 1945 and during 1946, for the British Military Government at Ratzeburg, Germany. Before coming to Australia in 1972 she lived in London and worked as a nurse there and in India. In 1961 she studied writing by correspondence and, in 1964, a correspondence course on children's stories with the London School of Journalism.
Stephens has been a member of the Society of Women Writers Australia, the Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW) (Victorian Branch) and the Victorian Association of Multicultural Writers. Her work was read on Radio 2CR, Radio 3RRR, Radio 3ZZZ, Radio 3LO between 1987 and 1989, and on Sydney and Mountain District Radio. She has read for the Year of Peace, for Amnesty and for the 1986 Spoleto Festival, as well as at gatherings of the Victorian Association of Multicultural Writers, the Society of Women Writers and at Monsalvat, Eltham, Victoria, in 1988. Stephens has published widely in Australian anthologies and literary journals.
