Sasha A. Palmer is a linguist with a BA from Moscow State Linguistic University and an MA in Translation Studies from the University of Birmingham, UK. A Touchstone Award-winning poet, she writes short-form poetry and prose. Sasha is the recipient of the 2022 Morioka International Haiku Contest grand prize, and the winner of the 2023 Sejong International Sijo Competition. Her work has appeared in The Mainichi, first frost, Presence and elsewhere. Born and raised in Moscow, Sasha currently lives in Maryland. Folks know her as The Happy Amateur, or Happy for short. Sasha coined the phrase “Live for the Love of it.”