Daria Sommers

Born in Peoria, Illinois, Daria grew up in Bangkok, Thailand. She started her career in Washington, DC at PBS making films about the artists, scientists and researchers at the Smithsonian Institution. Eventually, she moved to New York and established herself as an independent filmmaker/writer. Her novel, Sawadika American Girl, is about Americans living in Bangkok during the Vietnam War. It will be published by Vine Leaves Press in spring of 2026. She’s received grants from Sundance, the NYSCA and the NEH among others and been a Fellow at the MacDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.