Sofia Samatar


Sofia Samatar is an American scholar, novelist and educator from Indiana. She is an associate professor of English at James Madison University.
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Early life

Samatar was born in northern Indiana, United States. Her father was the Somali scholar, historian and writer Said Sheikh Samatar. Her mother is a Swiss-German Mennonite from North Dakota. Sofia's parents met in 1970 in Mogadishu, Somalia, while her mother was teaching English.
Samatar attended a Mennonite high school before studying at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, 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.

Career

Samatar is an associate professor of English at James Madison University.
Samatar's first novel A Stranger in Olondria was published in 2013.
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, titled The Winged Histories, was published by Small Beer Press in 2016.
Samatar's main literary influences include Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, and Rainer Maria Rilke, as well as Somali mythology. 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.

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.
Samatar's poem "APACHE CHIEF" was a finalist for a Rhysling Award.
In 2014, Samatar won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel for her book A Stranger in Olondria. She was also presented the World Fantasy Award for the work. 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.
Samatar's Monster Portraits, a collection of short fiction published in February 2018, was a finalist for the Calvino Prize.
The White Mosque was a finalist for the 2023 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. It won the 2023 Bernard J. Brommel Award for Biography & Memoir.
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain is a finalist for the 2025 Hugo Award for Best Novella. It was also a finalist for the 2025 Ignyte Award for Outstanding Novella.

Personal

Samatar is married to American writer Keith R. Miller. They have two children. Although her father was a Muslim, she is a Mennonite like her mother.

Selected bibliography

;Novels
  • A Stranger in Olondria
  • The Winged Histories
;Nonfiction
  • The White Mosque
  • Tone
  • Opacities
  • Friendly City: A Year of Walks
;Collection
  • Tender
;Short fiction
  • "Meet Me in Iram"
  • "The Closest Thing to Animals"
  • "Tender"
  • "Request for an Extension on the Clarity"
  • "Those"
  • "Walkdog"
  • "A Girl Who Comes Out of a Chamber at Regular Intervals"
  • "Ogres of East Africa"
  • "How to Get Back to the Forest"
  • "Olimpia's Ghost"
  • "How I Met the Ghoul"
  • "Bess, the Landlord's Daughter, Goes for Drinks with the Green Girl"
  • "I Stole the D.C.'s Eyeglass"
  • "Dawn and the Maiden"
  • "Selkie Stories Are for Losers"
  • "Honey Bear"
  • "A Brief History of Nonduality Studies"
  • "The Nazir"
  • Monster Portraits
  • Tender
  • The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain
;Poetry
  • "Make the Night Go Faster"
  • "The Death of Araweilo"
  • "Long-Ear"
  • "APACHE CHIEF"
  • "Persephone Set Free"
  • "Undoomed"
  • "Shahrazad Spoils the Coffee"
  • "Snowbound in Hamadan"
  • "Burnt Lyric"
  • "The Hunchback's Mother"
  • "Lost Letter"
  • "Qasida of the Ferryman"
  • "The Year of Disasters"
  • "Girl Hours"
  • "The Sand Diviner"