Shari Astalos has published work in Conjunctionsand Story Magazine. Her piece in Conjunctions was a distinguished story in the 2025 Best American Short Stories. She received an MFA from Rutgers-Newark, and has lectured at Montclair State University, the University of Valencia, and Rutgers-Newark.

She is a practicing immigration attorney, specializing in removal defense. She has studied Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi, French, Russian, and Latin to varying degrees.