Sharma Shields's new novel The Cassandra is set at the Hanford Site in eastern Washington during WWII, and follows a young woman, Mildred Groves, who has visions of the destruction that will be caused by the atomic bombs she is unwittingly helping create. The book will be released Tuesday, February 12th and Shields will be reading from that day at the Downtown Branch of the Spokane Public Library at 6:30 p.m. Books will be available for sale by Auntie's Books.
Sharma Sheilds is also the author of a short story collection, Favorite Monster, and a novel, The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac. Sharma’s writing has appeared in Electric Lit, Slice, The New York Times, Kenyon Review, Iowa Review, Fugue, and elsewhere and has garnered such awards as the 2016 Washington State Book Award, the Autumn House Fiction Prize, the Tim McGinnis Award for Humor, a Grant for Artist Projects from Artist Trust, and the A.B. Guthrie Award for Outstanding Prose. She received her B.A. in English Literature from the University of Washington (2000) and her MFA from the University of Montana (2004). Sharma has worked in independent bookstores and public libraries throughout Washington State and lives in Spokane with her husband and two young children. Sharma is the President of the Board of the Friends of the Spokane County Library District.