Background


Founded in 2003, The Maia Press is dedicated to bringing out high-quality original fiction by both new and established authors. Based in multi-cultural Hackney, East London, we also plan to publish works by writers from diverse backgrounds, works in translation, and a limited number of titles which are out of print.

Maia is run by Maggie Hamand and Jane Havell, who between them have twenty years’ experience of running their own businesses in writing and publishing.

Maggie Hamand worked as an editor for the Bedford Square Press and is author of 16 non-fiction books and two novels. She was winner of the first World One-Day Novel Cup in 1994. She teaches creative writing courses at Morley College and at The Groucho Club and in 2000-2001 she was Arts Council sponsored Writer in Residence at Holloway Prison.
Jane Havell has worked in publishing for over twenty years as an editor, in both fiction and non-fiction, and for the last nine years increasingly in production and design as well. She runs her own consultancy as a freelance editor, designer and packager, with an emphasis on fine and applied arts.