Leeya Mehta is a curator and professor at George Mason University, where she is also the director of the Alan Cheuse International Writers Center. She studied at St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and at Oxford University. Her debut novel 'Extinction' is to be launched at the Godrej Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest 2026. Her prize-winning poetry, fiction and essays have been widely published in the US, India, UK, and Austria. Her poetry collection is 'A Story of the World before the Fence'. Her poems have been included in Poetry London, and the Penguin Book of Modern Indian Poets.