Printmaker Elka Zaharieva was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, on September 15, 1928, the daughter of noted Bulgarian professor of graphic art Vasil Zahariev. After graduation from Sofia National High School, Zaharieva studied at the National Art Academy under Iliya Bezkhov, graduating with honors in the field of illustration in 1954. She worked primarily in woodcut and linocut, but also in charcoal and pen and ink. 

In 1955 she became an associate member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists, exhibiting with them for several decades and becoming a full member in 1972. She participated in General Arts exhibitions throughout Bulgaria and abroad. She focused on historical Bulgarian figures and events, and the landscapes she grew up in. 

Zaharieva died in Sofia on September 12, 1976. In 2017 she was given a posthumous retrospective in Samokov, Sofia, Bulgaria, for the first time.