"Powell’s wry, playful tone, assured voice and unerring eye
for detail make her one to watch." -- Publishers Weekly

Sophie Powell (also known as Sophie Westra) grew up in London and on a sheep farm in Wales. She is the author of the novel The Mushroom Man (Putnam Penguin) which received glowing reviews, including one from the New York Times Book Review, and which has been translated into several languages. She has also published short stories, including one in a collection selected by Zadie Smith. With a BA in Classics from Cambridge University and an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University, she is especially fond of writing that involves myth, magic and fantasy. 

She has taught Creative Writing at Boston College, New York University, George Washington University and on seminars abroad, as well as in prisons and libraries. 

She is currently a writing instructor and consultant at Boston’s beloved Grub Street Writers. She also does some private writing consulting and editing. 


Sophie Powell: Writer, Professor, and author of The Mushroom Man