Author: Maya Beck

My name is Sumayyah Beck, but I go by Maya.
I am a lapsed Muslim, recovering otaku, part-time hermit, Cali transplant, broke blipster, socially-anxious social justice bard, and genre-confused writer. As a teen, I drafted up many ideas for middle grade fiction that I now aim to realize with an adult’s sensibility. I write the books I wish I’d had as a kid, super multicultural books that have robots and dragons as well as investigations into the nature of religious belief, and my aim to create an oeuvre of speculative work that all children will read for pleasure and not because a teacher told them it would explain the Other.
I also write short stories that use fantastic elements to question and investigate philosophical and social justice issues such as mental illness, poverty, class differences, and gender/sex. 
I currently work at an arts nonprofit in Minneapolis.