Spark Artist

Sophia Shalmiyev emigrated from Leningrad to NYC in 1990.She is a feminist author, educator, activist, and painter living in Portland with her two children. She holds an MFA in writing from Portland State University with a second master's degree in creative arts therapy from the School of Visual Arts. Shalmiyev’s work has appeared in The Believer, Epiphany, Literary Hub, Tin House, Guernica, Electric Lit, LARB, The Rumpus, The Poetry Project, Vela, Portland Review, and other publications. She has taught creative writing at PNCA, PCC, and PSU. Her first book, Mother Winter (Simon& Schuster, 2019), which Eileen Myles called “vividly awesome and truly great," is out in paperback. Sophia recently finished her first novel, I Married The Butcher To Get To The Bone, and is at work on the follow up novel, Grace By Fall If By Sea, as her career pivots to fiction writing. Sophia is a grateful recipient of the Miller Foundation’s 2025 Spark Award, making her future debut novel and subsequent literary workable to exist under improved conditions and ample support.