Sofia Samatar Books In Order

Publication Order of Olondria Books

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Sofia Samatar is an American published author. She is known for writing fiction and nonfiction, especially her memoir The White Mosque, which was a PEN/Jean Stein Award finalist and received the Bernard J. Brommel Award for Biography and Memoir.

She is American with a Somali and Swiss German Mennonite background. She resides in Virginia and has written for Strange Horizons, Believer, New Inquiry, Clarkesworld, and the Guardian.

She wrote A Stranger in Olondria when she was working as an English teacher in Yambio, south Sudan. She has also worked in Egypt. She is going after a PhD in African languages and literature, studying at the University of Madison, Wisconsin.

Sofia Samatar is the creator and the author of the Olondria series of novels. The first book in the series is titled A Stranger in Olondria and the second book in the series is titled The Winged Histories.

She has also contributed to the collections Tender and Monster Portraits, and written the novella The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain.

A Stranger in Olondria is the first book in the Olondria series by Sofia Samatar. The book first came out in 2013. It won the 2014 Astounding Award for Best New Writer, the 2014 British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel, was nominated for the 2014 Locus Award for Best First Novel, won the 2014 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the 2013 Nebula Award for Best Novel.

Main character Jevick is the son of a pepper merchant. He grew up hearing all types of stories about Olondria, a land in the distance where the books there are common, and where in his home they are rare.

His father dies and his son must take his place on the yearly selling trip taken to Olondria. Things have improved a lot and he imagines that his life is pretty much perfect. But as he is reveling in the Rabelaisian Feast of Birds, he becomes distracted, pulled off course, and haunted by the ghost of a young girl who is illiterate.

Jevick gets desperate and looks for the help of priests there. However, he quickly starts to become a pawn in the fight over the empire between its two strongest cults. Even as the country is getting ready for war, he has to face the ghost and find out her story if he is ever to have a chance at being free. Perhaps setting her free will allow him to set himself free?

This will end up challenging how much he understands not only life but art, exile, home, and more. This is a debut novel that pulls you further in with tons of twists and will have you turning pages until you get to the end!

The Winged Histories is the second novel in the Olondria series of novels by Sofia Samatar. It was nominated for a 2017 Locus Award for the Best Fantasy Novel.

When four women are caught up in different parts of a rebellion, each of their stories are told. One is a socialite, one a poet, one a scholar, and one is a soldier.

When the war breaks out and all of the families get torn apart, they worry that they may disappear into history. Using the pen and the sword and their body and voice, they try to survive history while also making it. Will they be able to be successful? Read this novel to find out!

Others also loved this book. N.K. Jemisin called the book a ‘highly recommended indulgence’ in the New York Times Book Review. Hello Beautiful said that the book is ‘imaginative’ and ‘poetic’. Get a copy yourself to see what everyone is talking about!