Sofia Samatar (Somali: Sofia Samatar; Arabic: صوفيا ساماتار) is an American scholar, novelist and educator from Indiana. She is an associate professor of English at James Madison University.
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. Her 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.
Samatar's first novel A Stranger in Olondria was published in 2013 by Small Beer Press. It was followed by a companion novel, The Winged Histories, in 2016.
Samatar has published qasīdas in English. She collaborated with her brother on a book of illustrated prose poems, entitled Monster Portraits, which was published in 2018 by Rose Metal Press.
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
Year Work Award Category Result 2013 BSFA Award Short Fiction Nebula Award Short Story Nebula Award Novel 2014 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer — Rhysling Award Short Poetry Hugo Award Short Story World Fantasy Award Short Fiction British Fantasy Award Fantasy Novel Crawford Award — Locus Award First Novel World Fantasy Award Novel 2015 Locus Award Short Story 2017 Locus Award Fantasy Novel 2018 Tender British Fantasy Award Collection Locus Award Collection World Fantasy Award Collection 2021 Locus Award Novelette 2023 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award — 2024 Nebula Award Novella 2025 Hugo Award Novella Ignyte Award Novella Locus Award Locus Award for Best Novella Philip K. Dick Award —
Personal Samatar is married to American writer Keith R. Miller. They have two children. Although her father is a Somali Muslim, she is a Mennonite like her mother.
Bibliography
Novels
Novellas
Nonfiction
Collections
Short fiction
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Poetry
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Notes
References
External links