Born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Maya Ombasic fled the war in the former Yugoslavia with her family. She completed secondary school as a refugee in Switzerland and immigrated to Canada in 1999. Ombasic holds a master’s degree in philosophy, a doctorate in comparative literature, and a diploma in filmmaking.

Ombasic is the author of two books of poetry, a collection of short stories, a picaresque novel, and works of literary criticism. She has made documentary films about Cuba and the North African desert. Her auto-fictional memoir, Mostarghia, was published in Quebec and France, where it was awarded the 2017 Literature in Exile Prize, and was later translated into Spanish.

Maya Ombasic lives in Montreal and teaches philosophy at Cégep St-Laurent.