In 1917 Olga Sofonova's family moved to Irkutsk in Siberia and later to Harbin in China, where she lived until 1931 when she left for Shanghai. From there she was evacuated to the Philippines at the end of World War II and finally resettled in Australia. She worked in Sydney in an office until her retirement. She began writing poetry in Shanghai, where she contributed to the Russian journal of the Far East, Rubezh [Border]. She has been a member of various Russian literary and art societies. Her poetry has been read on the Russian language program of Radio 2EA. She has also given numerous public readings of her poetry in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne and participated in the Second Festival of Russian Poets in Melbourne.
