Aya Kaniuk was born in 1960 in New York City and grew up in Israel. Today she lives in Jerusalem. For years she has been writing, mostly testimonies and opinions. She writes as a form of resistance, as part of her political activity, and is advertising on a political website she co-founded.
The Kingdom of want is her debut novel.
Aya Kanyuk is the winner of the prestigious Sapir Prize for Debut Novel, 2018.
“Aya Kaniuk has written a fascinating novel, with a complex plot, yet one that can easily be deciphered and interpreted. Her characters are deep and full. Kaniuk’s language is sophisticated, mesmerizing and disturbed, in the best sense of the word.”
- 2019 Sapir Prize jury
"Aya Kaniuk portrays the lives of the inmates of psychiatric hospitals…from the inside. She steers clear of the romanticized, exaggerated or prettifying."
- Haaretz