Leeya Mehta is a prize-winning poet, fiction writer and essayist. Her novel, Extinction, is forthcoming with Simon and Schuster, India: pub date: October 6, 2026. Stay tuned for more!

Her latest collection of poems is A Story of the World Before the Fence.

Leeya is the Director of the Alan Cheuse International Writer’s Center, a non-profit based in America’s capital region. She teaches contemporary world literature in the context of American and world culture and history, at George Mason University, where the Center is part of the thriving academic community. The Center’s mission is developing a global community of writers, translators, and readers, curating public programs to deepen global civic engagement. It is a home for international writers and for American writers who face out into the world. By enriching public life through reading, writing, and translation, the Center actively pursues a just society. In 2024, Leeya was awarded George Mason University’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty Civic Excellence Award and in September 2025 she received Faculty of the Year for the University. George Mason is Virginia’s largest public university and home to over 40,000 students.

This site was created under the stewardship of the brilliant John Johnson. He made the process so easy and fun. It’s so nice for a writer to have a space to reflect their sensibility and aesthetic. You can reach John at JJ@JCJJ.COM