Olya Stoyanova was born in 1977 in Sofia, Bulgaria. She graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Sofia University, where she is currently a PhD student. Stoyanova is the author of four books of poetry: Photographs (2000), Prose (2002), Road Map (2003), and Happiness Street (2013). In 2013, Happiness Street won the Nikolay Kanchev National Award and the Ivan Nikolov National Award for Poetry Book of the Year. Her first novel, Personal Geographies, was released in 2005. Her collection of short stories, What Do Wolves Dream and nonfiction book, A Guide to Wild Places, were both published in 2011. Stoyanova’s play Invitation to Dinner won the Askeer National Award for Best Dramatic Text of the Year 2014.