Somayeh Shams's forthcoming novel, Round His Heap of Ashes, is the recipient of the Ruby's Artist Grant and a finalist for the Larry Levis post-graduate Fellowship prize. She has been a writer-in-residence at Hedgebrook and a recipient of a merit scholarship at the New York Summer Writers Institute. Somayeh was the Prose Editor and regular contributor for Nimrod International journal. She is a graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College and serves on the board of Friends of Writers.