Maya Abu Al-Hayyat

Maya Abu Al-Hayyat is a Beirut-born, Palestinian novelist and poet living in Jerusalem.

Abu Al-Hayyat is the author of four collections of poems, including You Can Be the Last Leaf (Milkweed, 2022), translated by Fady Joudah; four novels,  including the latest, No One Knows His Blood Type (Dar Al-Adab, 2013); and numerous children’s stories, including The Blue Pool of Questions (Penny Candy Books, LLC, 2017). Her work has appeared in A Bird Is Not a Stone: An Anthology of Contemporary Palestinian Poetry (Freight Books, 2014). She is also the editor of The Book of Ramallah: A City in Short Fiction (Comma Press, 2021).

Abu Al-Hayyat is the director of Palestine Writing Workshop, an institution that seeks to encourage reading in Palestinian communities through creative writing projects and storytelling with children and teachers.