Maria Dahvana Headley is an American novelist, memoirist, editor, translator, poet, and playwright. She has earned a reputation for being a New York Times-bestselling author and editor.

Her eclectic body of work includes novels such as Magonia, a young adult space-fantasy novel, and Queen of Kings, a novel that offers an alternate history fantasy narrative about Cleopatra. The Mere Wife is another notable work, providing a contemporary retelling of the classic epic, Beowulf. Headley's prowess as a translator is exemplified by her award-winning translation of Beowulf, which garnered the 2021 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award and the 2021 Hugo Award for Best Related Work.

Headley's short fiction has also been recognized. Her story "Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream" was a 2012 Nebula Award nominee, while "The Traditional" was a finalist for the 2013 Shirley Jackson Award.

Beyond her solo works, she co-wrote the novella The End of The Sentence with Kat Howard and was the New York Times-bestselling co-editor, with Neil Gaiman, of the monster anthology Unnatural Creatures, which benefits 826DC. Her contributions to the field of short fiction include pieces published in Tor.com, The Toast, and Clarkesworld.