Maria Tumarkin, biography

Born in 1974 in the former Soviet Union in a Russian Jewish family, which in 1989 immigrated to Australia. In 1992, only two years after arriving in Australia, bluffed my way into a Melbourne Journalism course. I was 17, could barely speak English and did not even finish Year 11. In thirteen years since, have traveled through Australia and the world, living in backwaters and big smokes. For six months, was the only person on my street in North Queensland to go to work in the mornings. For years, was the only first-generation migrant to tutor in Australian history at the University of Melbourne. Have directed video-clips and commercials, raised a daughter, completed an inter-disciplinary Ph.D. and been published in popular and scholarly journals. More to come.