Maria Leonard is director of the Invented Futures platform based at Spike Island and visiting lecturer at University of the Arts Berlin. She teaches public learning workshops and seminars for cultural organisations, and she is an independent journalist for publications such as Qisetna: Talking Syria and Words Without Borders. Her writing has been performed at Soho Theatre Upstairs, as part of the Young Almeida, at ACUD Theatre Berlin and Omnibus Theatre. She has appeared in Modern Queer Poets published by Pilot Press and was shortlisted for the Women Poets’ Prize in 2022.