Maria Marianayagam

Maria Marianayagam is a Tamil Sri Lankan Canadian chemical engineer turned picture book writer. She was awarded the Highlights Foundation Nonfiction Writing Scholarship and Writing Barn Courage to Create Scholarship based on her manuscripts. She says, “My stories call upon a childhood and adulthood of multiple identities. . . . We all contain multitudes—and I draw on our intersections to inspire, empower, and engage young readers.” She lives in Calgary, Alberta, with her husband and two daughters.