Maria Dahvana Headley

Maria Dahvana Headley (born June 21, 1977) is an American novelist, memoirist, editor, translator, poet, and playwright. She is a New York Times-bestselling author as well as editor. Her work includes Magonia, a young-adult space-fantasy novel, Queen of Kings, an alternate-history fantasy novel about Cleopatra, and The Mere Wife, a retelling of Beowulf. Her short story "Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream", originally published in Lightspeed magazine in July 2012, was a 2012 Nebula Award nominee in the short story category. Her short story "The Traditional" was a finalist for the 2013 Shirley Jackson Award. Headley won the 2021 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award and the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Related Work. for her translation of Beowulf.