Sonja Mongar
Sonja S. Mongar, MFA, believes that fate favors the prepared person, which is why she always carries her harmonica in her back pocket. (or purse)
Two Spoons of Bitter, her first novel, won the 2019 Gold Royal Palm Literary award for fiction; was a UK Wishing Shelf finalist and earned a Merit Award from Colorado Independent Publishers. It earned five-stars from Wishing Shelf readers and from Readers Favorite and has been sold in 79 countries.
Her essays have been featured in Brevity, Poor Yorick, Saw Palm; Florida Literature & Arts, and Pink Panther, among others. Most recently, her essay, The Last Spike, is featured in, Ghostline, by photographer, Glenn Rudolph – a book of stunning black and white photographs chronicling the dismantling of the bankrupt Milwaukee Railroad in 1980 across the Pacific Northwest.
Former incarnations include music features journalist, magazine editor, and tenured Professor of English (University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez) where she specialized in creative writing. A songwriter and blues harmonica player, she’s played in numerous alternative/rock/blues bands over the years, as well as with a Latin fusion jibara band in Puerto Rico for over a decade.
Currently, she teaches part-time in the Western Connecticut State Low Residency MFA in Creative and Professional Writing and is a writing coach, developmental editor and creative writing workshop facilitator. Local workshops include IRSC Fielden Institute for Lifelong Learning and the Martin County ’24 Chataqua sponsored by Friends of the Martin County Library.
She believes the purpose of writing our stories is not only a soul retrieval but also that artists/writers give us new lenses to view our past, present and future. Art’s role is to challenge existing conditions and ideas in society and push it past its comfort zone. Art promotes understanding and compassion and bridges differences in a community. A healthy community tells its stories.
