Born in Toronto, Canada, Maia Machèn moved to the Netherlands in 1999 to study fine arts. Maia graduated from the Academy of Arts and Design in Den Bosch in 2003, and self-published a series of zines, called 'Crap*'. In 2004, she worked on her graphic novel 'Torontonia', a project that was awarded a subsidy by De Nieuwe Brabantse Kunst Stichting (The New Brabants Art Society) in Breda.
