Aya Khalil (she/her), M.Ed, is an award-winning author and freelance journalist. She holds a master’s degree in Education with a focus in teaching English as a second Language. Aya and her books have been featured in Oprah Daily, Washington Post, Teen Vogue, Yahoo!, Book Riot and USA Today. Her writing has been published in The Huffington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, Toledo Area Parent and many others. 

Aya’s picture books and board books have won numerous awards and honors including The Arab American Book Award and NCTE’s Charlotte Huck Award.

She's a mentor for We Need Diverse Books 2024.

She was a Muslim Highlights Foundation Storyteller. 

​Aya is one of the co-founders of Kidlit in Color.

Besides writing and teaching, she enjoys hosting brunches, traveling and cycling (indoors and outdoors). She’s also a substitute librarian and substitute teacher. She lives in Northwest Ohio with her family.