Maya's  creative and critical writing has been published in many local and international journals and magazines as well as numerous anthologies. She has been the recipient of multiple literary prizes and awards and holds a PhD in Creative Writing/Literary Studies.

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​​EDUCATION:

2009 – 2011  University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
PhD: Creative Writing/Literary Studies (Conferred August 2011)
Thesis Title: ‘Desire and its Disastrous Results’: Re-examining Representations of Feminine Masochism in Women’s Writing  

2007 – 2009  University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
PhD: Creative Writing/Literary Studies
Thesis Title: ‘Desire and its Disastrous Results’: Re-examining Representations of Feminine Masochism in Women’s Writing

2002 – 2004   University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Master of Arts: Creative Writing (First Class Honours)
Thesis Title: ‘Burning at the Edges’: Feminism, Heterosexuality and Women’s Interrupted Fictions

1998 - 2001  University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Bachelor of Creative Arts 
Double major Media Arts/Creative Writing
Fourth Year Honours: Media Arts/Creative Writing (First Class Honours)
Thesis Title: ‘Corporeal Landscapes’: Women, Writing, the Body and Nature

AWARDS & HONOURS:

2023: Society of Women Writers National Writing Competition, First Prize Non-Fiction ('Dust Figures') and Commended Fiction ('The Life of Water')

2022: Finalist, Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2022 for Not Keeping Mum: Australian Writers Tell the Truth About Perinatal Anxiety & Depression in Poetry, Fiction & Essay

2021: Commended, Ada Cambridge Biographical Prose Prize 2021

2019: Shortlisted, Ada Cambridge Biographical Prose Prize 2019 for  'Crush'

2019: Shortlisted, Newcastle Short Story Award 2019 for 'Crush'

2018: Highly commended, Boroondara Literary Awards for 'Crush'

2018: Shortlisted, ACU Poetry Prize for poem 'Cyprus, 1985'

2012: Longlisted for ‘Anatomy of the Upper Body’, The Australian/Vogel Literary Award 2012

2011: Shortlisted (Top 10 of 578) for ‘Anatomy of the Upper Body’, Alma Books/Lightship First Chapter Unpublished Manuscript Award 2011 (London, UK)

2011: Awarded Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize for short story, ‘Forgetting’

2009 – 2010: Mentorship with award-winning New York novelist and Princeton Creative Writing Professor, Susanna Moore (In the Cut, The Whiteness of Bones etc)

2009 – 2010: Recipient of Commonwealth Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship (University of Adelaide) for PhD research

2008: Recipient of TRIPS (Travel for Research in Postgraduate Study) award (University of Melbourne) to fund travel to the UK for research and conference presentation purposes

2007 - 2009: Recipient of Melbourne Research Scholarship (University of Melbourne) for PhD research

2005: Gained and completed competitive internships at the Australian head editorial offices of Girlfriend, Filmink and Vogue Entertaining+Travel magazines

2004: Awarded First Prize in the 2004 Australian Book Review reviewing competition with commission for ongoing contributions

2004: Awarded University of Melbourne Postgraduate Association Writing Prize, 2004

2003 - 2004: Recipient of Commonwealth Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship (University of Melbourne) for Masters research

2000  
Co-editor of Vivid, the School of Creative Arts Writing Journal, Volume 4, 2000

CONFERENCES & PRESENTATIONS:​

2013: Panelist, ‘Between Friends’, Melbourne Writers Festival, August 23, 2013

2013: Panelist, ‘Just Between Us: Writing Female Friendship’, Williamstown Literary Festival, June 1, 2013

2010: ‘Desire and its Disastrous Results: Re-examining Representations of Feminine Masochism in Women’s Writing’, Australasian Association of Writing Programs 15th Annual Conference (RMIT University, Australia, November, 2010)

2010: ‘Metaphors of war: Desire, Danger and Ambivalence in Anne Carson’s Poetic Form’, The Third Biennial International Conference of the Contemporary Women's Writing Network in Collaboration with San Diego State University (San Diego, USA, July, 2010)

2009: Presentation of extract from Anatomy of the Upper Body (novel in progress) on Radio Adelaide’s Writer’s Radio program (aired nationally, October 26, 2009)

2008: Presentation of extract from Anatomy of the Upper Body (novel in progress), Living Memory: Remembering, Reinventing and Forgetting, UNSW School of English, Media & Performing Arts Annual Postgraduate Symposium (University of New South Wales, Australia, October, 2008)

2008: ‘Desire and its Disastrous Results: Femininity, Masochism and Romantic Obsession’, Obsession and Addiction: An International Cultural Connections Symposium (Kingston University, London, UK, July, 2008)

2007: ‘Multifariousness AS Resistance’: Feminism, Experimentalism and Ambivalence in Women’s Creative Self-Representations’, Manifesting Literary Feminisms Conference (Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, December, 2007)

2003: ‘Loving Certain Human Things: Feminism, Sexuality and Women’s Interrupted Fictions’, Australasian Association of Writing Programs 8th Annual Conference (University of New South Wales, Australia, November

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