Aya de Leon
Aya de Leon is an author, slam poet, professor, and Director of Poetry for the People, teaching poetry and spoken word at UC Berkeley. Kensington Books published her debut feminist heist novel, Uptown Thief, in 2016. The Justice Hustlers series will continue with The Boss in 2017 and The Accidental Mistress in 2018—novels that are sexy, politically radical, and action-packed. Her work has also appeared in Ebony Magazine, Guernica, xojane, Writers Digest, Bitch Magazine, Essence, Huffington Post and on Def Poetry. She blogs and tweets about culture, gender, and race at @AyadeLeon and ayadeleon.com. She self-published a children’s book called puffy: people whose hair defies gravity. She is also at work in a children’s picture book about Bree Newsome, a YA black spy girl novel. She has developed a production capacity to publish one to two novels a year, maintain her blog and a social media presence, tour as a performer, and contribute to various publications, all while teaching and raising a family.