Sophia Kouidou-Giles, an award winning author, was born in Thessaloniki, Greece and university educated in the USA. She holds a Bachelors in Psychology and a Masters in Social Work. In her 34 year child welfare career, she served as a practitioner, educator, researcher and administrator publishing articles in Greek and English professional journals. In recent years she has written essays, fiction non-fiction, poetry and translation. Her poetry chapbook Transitions and Passages received recognition in a juried competition by the Contemporary Quilt Art when she worked in partnership with Deborah Gregory, an internationally known Quilt Artist. In 2014, Life on Egypt Street placed 9th in the Fourth International short story competition and in an anthology entitled The Time Collection. Poetry and essays have appeared in several literary anthologies. The literary journal Persimmon Tree published a chapter of her memoir entitled Under the Azure Greek Sky, in its spring 2016 issue. Her writing has appeared in other journals, including: The Hellenic Voice, Assay, The Raven's Perch, The Blue Nib, The Writers and Readers Magazine. Her memoir, Επιστροφή Στη Θεσσαλονίκη, was published in Greek by Tyrfi Press in 2019. Sophia's Return: Uncovering My Mother's Past was published in September 2021, by She Writes Press. Here novel, An Unexpected Ally is forthcoming in the Fall of 2023.