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, 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. 

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Her debut picture book THE ARABIC QUILT: AN IMMIGRANT STORY, published in February 2020 by  Tilbury House & illustrated by Anait Semirdzhyan, has won numerous awards and honors. 

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Her board book, OUR WORLD: EGYPT, was published in October 2022 by Barefoot Books, illustrated by Magda Azab.

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 THE NIGHT BEFORE EID: A MUSLIM FAMILY STORY, will be published in 2023 by Little, Brown/ Christy Ottaviano, about three generations of Egyptian-Americans bonding over a special Eid treat. It is illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh. 

 

THE BANNED-BOOKS BAKE SALE, about a girl and her classmates finding out their school district has banned diverse books and they organize a bake sale and protest. It is set to be published in the summer of 2023 by Tilbury House, and illustrated by Anait Semridzhyan. 

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Aya is a mentor for PBRising Star 2022, Kweli 2022 and DVDebut 2022.

She's also a current  Muslim Highlights Foundation Storyteller.

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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 lives in Northwest Ohio with her family.