Sonja Skarstedt was born 1960 in Montreal, Quebec. Her poems, stories and illustrations have appeared in a diverse number of publications, including The Antigonish Review,  Canadian Literature, Poetry Canada Review, Canadian Notes and Queries, Corridors, Crash, The Nashwaak Review,  The Poem Factory, Rolling Stone and The White Wall Review.  SAS is also an editor, a publisher, reviewer, freelance graphic artist and painter.

From 1987 to 1991 she published and edited the literary journal Zymergy. In 1990, she founded Empyreal Press with the publication of her first poetry collection, Mythographies. Since that time, she has authored two more poetry collections, A Demolition Symphony (December 1995), and Beautiful Chaos (2000), and a play, Saint Francis of Esplanade (2001). 

With Aileen Collins and Michael Gnarowski, Skarstedt edited Eternal Conversations (DC Books, 2003), a tribute anthology honouring the distinguished poet and man of letters Louis Dudek. She is currently working on two children's novels, Ogden and the Erc and The Secret of Tarrow Tell, as well as a second play, Calamity Train. Her pen and ink drawings and acrylic paintings (including portraits of contemporary Canadian poets) have appeared on the covers of such literary publications as The Antigonish Review, The Nashwaak Review, Poetry Canada, and West Coast Line.