Sofia Samatar
Born (1971-10-24) October 24, 1971
Indiana, United States
Occupation
  • Professor
  • editor
  • poet
  • writer
Alma materGoshen College, University of Wisconsin-Madison
GenreFantasy, mythology, postmodernism
Notable worksA Stranger in Olondria (2013), The White Mosque (2022)
Notable awardsBritish Fantasy Award, World Fantasy Award, John W. Campbell Award, Crawford Award
SpouseKeith Miller
Children2
ParentsSaid Sheikh Samatar (father)
Website
sofiasamatar.com

Sofia Samatar (born October 24, 1971) is an American scholar, novelist and educator from Indiana.[1]

Early life

Samatar was born in 1971 in northern Indiana, United States.[2] Her father was the Somali scholar, historian and writer Said Sheikh Samatar. Her mother is a Swiss-German Mennonite from North Dakota.[2][3] Sofia's parents met in 1970 in Mogadishu, Somalia, while her mother was teaching English.[4]

Samatar attended a Mennonite high school before studying at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana,[2] where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English. In 1997, Samatar earned a master's degree in African languages and literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in 2013 in contemporary Arabic literature.[5] She is an associate professor of English at James Madison University.

Career

Samatar's first novel A Stranger in Olondria[2] was published in 2013.[6]

Samatar has also published qasīdas in English and collaborated with her brother on a book of illustrated prose poems, entitled Monster Portraits, which was published in 2018 by Rose Metal Press. A sequel to A Stranger in Olondria, entitled The Winged Histories, was published by Small Beer Press in 2016.[7]

Samatar's main literary influences include Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, and Rainer Maria Rilke, as well as Somali mythology.[7][8] Samatar served as a nonfiction and poetry editor for Interfictions: A Journal of Interstitial Arts.

In 2022, she published her first nonfiction book, The White Mosque, a memoir about a trip to Uzbekistan in search of the followers of fringe religious leader Claas Epp Jr.[1]

Awards

Samatar's short story "Selkie Stories Are for Losers" was a finalist for both the 2014 Nebula and Hugo Awards for Best Short Story, as well as the British Science Fiction Association Award and the World Fantasy Award.[9]

Samatar's poem "APACHE CHIEF" was a finalist for a Rhysling Award.[10]

In 2014, Samatar won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel (the Robert Holdstock Award) for her book A Stranger in Olondria.[11] She was also presented the World Fantasy Award for the work.[6] In addition, Samatar received the 2014 Astounding Award for Best New Writer. She likewise won the Crawford Award and was a finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel.[12]

Samatar's Monster Portraits, a collection of short fiction published in February 2018, was a finalist for the Calvino Prize.[13]

The White Mosque was a finalist for the 2023 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award.[14] It won the 2023 Bernard J. Brommel Award for Biography & Memoir (Midland Authors Book Award).[15]

Personal

Samatar is married to American writer Keith R. Miller.[2] They have two children, Isabel and Dominic (Nico).[16] Although her father was a Muslim, she is a Mennonite[17] like her mother.

Selected bibliography

Novels
  • A Stranger in Olondria (Small Beer Press, 2013)
  • The Winged Histories (Small Beer Press, 2016)
Nonfiction
  • The White Mosque (Catapult, 2022)
Collection
  • Tender (Small Beer Press, 2017)[18]
Short fiction
  • "Meet Me in Iram" (Guillotine Series No. 10, 2015)
  • "The Closest Thing to Animals" (Fireside Fiction, 2015)
  • "Tender" (OmniVerse, 2015)
  • "Request for an Extension on the Clarity" (Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, 2015)
  • "Those" (Uncanny Magazine, 2015)
  • "Walkdog" (Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories, 2014)
  • "A Girl Who Comes Out of a Chamber at Regular Intervals" (Lackington's, 2014)
  • "Ogres of East Africa" (Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History, 2014)
  • "How to Get Back to the Forest" (Lightspeed, 2014)
  • "Olimpia's Ghost" (Phantom Drift, 2013)
  • "How I Met the Ghoul" (Eleven Eleven, 2013)
  • "Bess, the Landlord's Daughter, Goes for Drinks with the Green Girl" (Glitter & Mayhem, 2013)
  • "I Stole the D.C.'s Eyeglass" (We See a Different Frontier: A Postcolonial Speculative Fiction Anthology, 2013)
  • "Dawn and the Maiden" (Apex Magazine, 2013)
  • "Selkie Stories Are for Losers" (Strange Horizons, 2013)
  • "Honey Bear" (Clarkesworld Magazine, 2012)
  • "A Brief History of Nonduality Studies" (Expanded Horizons, 2012)
  • "The Nazir" (Ideomancer, 2012)
  • Monster Portraits (collection) (Rose Metal Press, 2017)
  • Tender (collection) (Small Beer Press, 2017)
Poetry
  • "Make the Night Go Faster" (Liminality, 2014)
  • "The Death of Araweilo" (Tor.com, 2014)
  • "Long-Ear" (Stone Telling, 2014)
  • "APACHE CHIEF" (Flying Higher: An Anthology of Superhero Poetry, 2013)
  • "Persephone Set Free" (Mythic Delirium, 2013)
  • "Undoomed" (Ideomancer, 2013)
  • "Shahrazad Spoils the Coffee" (Jabberwocky, 2012)
  • "Snowbound in Hamadan" (Stone Telling, 2012)
  • "Burnt Lyric" (Goblin Fruit, 2012)
  • "The Hunchback's Mother" (inkscrawl, 2012)
  • "Lost Letter" (Strange Horizons, 2012)
  • "Qasida of the Ferryman" (Goblin Fruit, 2012)
  • "The Year of Disasters" (Bull Spec, 2012)
  • "Girl Hours" (Stone Telling, 2011)
  • "The Sand Diviner" (Stone Telling, 2011)

References

  1. 1 2 "Sofia Samatar's vivid travel memoir". Los Angeles Times. 24 October 2022. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Sofia Samatar: Stranger Scripts". Locus Magazine. 5 June 2013. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Small Beer Press & Big Mouth House Fall/Winter 2012" (PDF). Small Beer Press. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  4. ↑ Samatar, Said Sheikh. "Interview with Professor Said Sheikh Samatar at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, Washington, D.C." (Interview). Interviewed by Ahmed I. Samatar. Bildhaan. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Faculty Profiles - Sofia Samatar". California State University Channel Islands. Archived from the original on November 28, 2014. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
  6. 1 2 Gallo, Irene (7 September 2014). "Announcing the 2014 British Fantasy Awards Winners". Tor.com. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Samatar, Sofia. "ST Body Interviews: Sofia Samatar, "Long-Ear"" (Interview). Stone Telling. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  8. ↑ Samatar, Sofia. "The Death of Araweilo". Tor.com. Archived from the original on July 2, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. ↑ "'Selkie Stories are for Losers' is a bittersweet winner". The Stanford Daily. April 3, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  10. ↑ "The 2014 Rhysling Anthology and Awards". Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  11. ↑ "2014 British Fantasy Awards Winners". Locus Magazine. September 8, 2014. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  12. ↑ "2014 Locus Awards Winners". Locus Magazine. June 28, 2014. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  13. ↑ "2013 Calvino Prize Winners — Department of English". louisville.edu. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Announcing the 2023 PEN America Literary Awards Finalists". 15 February 2023.
  15. ↑ "Contest Winners | the Society of Midland Authors".
  16. ↑ "Bulletin fall-winter 2010-11". Issu. 10 December 2010. Retrieved December 31, 2014.
  17. ↑ Samatar, Sofia (December 18, 2014). "Interview: Sofia Samatar". Post45 (Interview). Interviewed by Aaron Bady. Austin, Texas: Yale University.
  18. ↑ "Tender : Small Beer Press". 9 April 2019. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
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