Maya Varma is a Los Angeles-based illustrator and art historian

Drawn to the whimsy of girlhood and the nostalgia of home, Maya’s fondness for storytelling began with a bookshelf full of Eloise at the Plaza, Olivia, anything by Roald Dahl, and a precious copy of The Princess and the Pea with Lauren Child’s handmade paper dolls. She illustrated her first children’s book, Why Won’t It Growwwwww?, in 2023 and is currently working on her second. Her projects also include illustrations for the Sacramento Public Library’s adult literacy initiative, a special-edition cover for Karthik Venkatesh’s 10 Makers of the Indian Constitution, and personalized illustration commissions for nurseries, pets, weddings, and anniversaries.

Maya is also a PhD candidate in Art History at UCLA, where she researches anti-caste visual culture in India and its connections to Black liberation movements in the twentieth century. Her research has taken her to archives across India and the United States, including a fellowship at the Library of Congress. Her research has been supported by the American Institute of Indian Studies and UCLA’s Center for India and South Asia.