Maya Abu al-Hayat is a Palestinian poet, novelist, translator and actress born in Beirut. She has published four novels, four collections of poems and more than 40 children's stories. Her works have been translated into English, Swedish and German. Her English collection of poems You Can Be The Last Leaf was a finalist for the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award in Translation. Maya has also translated a number of international novels into Arabic. She has led dozens of trainings in creative writing working with trainers in Palestine and the Arab world. She has served as the director of the Palestine Writing Workshop since 2013.