Anaya Lee Willabus is a 16-year-old award-winning author of 4 chapter books. Anaya was born and raised in Brooklyn, where she currently attends high school.

At the age of 2, Anaya's parents taught her to read. Since then, she has spent time immersing herself in books of all genres every year.

Although Anaya thoroughly enjoys reading and writing, she believes that it is incredibly important to live a balanced lifestyle!

She enjoys spending time playing her favorite sport, soccer. Anaya began her international career with the Under-15 Guyana National Team in 2018 when she was 11 years old.

About Her Books

Anaya's first book, ​The Day Mohan Found His Confidence,​ ​was written after her inaugural trip to her parents' homeland of Guyana, South America in April of 2014. Upon her return, she started jotting down notes from her visit to document her unique cultural experiences. Her writing compositions seemed worthy of her parents' attention and was thereafter drafted on the computer. For over a year, Anaya's ​continued to develop this writing into her first published chapter book on May 30, 2015. This accomplishment distinguished her in U.S. history as the youngest child from Brooklyn, New York to write and publish a chapter book at eight years old.

In the summer of 2015, Anaya went on an extensive book tour, which included numerous schools, churches, and libraries on a local, national, and international scale, including in Canada and Guyana. Anaya’s goal was to promote the values of reading and giving back to help motivate other children. During this book tour, over 500 books were donated to children throughout Guyana. The Guyanese government bought an additional 500 books that were distributed to schools throughout the country.

• Anaya’s second book, A​ Bully’s Disguise, was published in May 2016.
• Anaya’s third book, ​Checo & the Homework Passes, was published in May 2017.
• Anaya’s fourt​h​ book​, ​Make it Happen: Anaya Willabus,​ ​is part of a series that features inspirational public figures.