is a Mauritian award-winning author known for her children's book series A Little Dodo Called Feno and her novel Riambel. Hein won the Jean Fanchette Prize and Prix littéraire Athéna for Riambel.
Personal life Hein lives in Munich, Germany and Mauritius with her husband Stephan Hein and two daughters.
Career
Hein began her career in political science at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France and European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. She worked as a legal assistant in Munich for 11 years.
Hein became interested in writing at a young age when she "realized that the stories she was reading were ending too quickly."
In 2019, Hein was a mentee in the Women's Creative Mentorship Project at the University of Iowa International Writing Program.
Hein has written in a variety of genres since the beginning of her career. She has 5+ children's books, two adult novels, and has written for textbooks, journals, and non-fiction books. Hein's books have been written in and translated into English, French, and Mauritian Creole. She has also written dual language books, or books that feature two languages.
She was inspired by her eldest daughter to write her A Little Dodo Called Feno series. Her sequel, Feno the Little Dodo’s Rainy Day Picnic, was chosen by the Mauritius Institute of Education to be included in a book for primary schools. She has also written for the primary school textbook Ki Pase La?
Her adult novels, Riambel (2023) and Tamarin (2025), published in English, were released to critical acclaim. Riambel was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and experiences of migrants, like herself, in the European continent.
The draft of Riambel was awarded the Jean Fanchette Prize in 2023, an award that partly inspired the Hein's creation as she wanted to meet judge and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Jean-Marie Leclézio. Laeitita Erskine described Riambel as "a sensual and deceptively simple evocation of generational slavery." Brittle Paper named Riambel one of "100 Notable African Books of 2023" and Isele Magazine named it one of their most anticipated books of 2023. Riambel was awarded the 2023 for the theme "Commitment, freedom and truth."
Her second adult novel, Tamarin, received similar acclaim. Trinidadian author and lawyer Celeste Muhammad wrote "in Tamarin, Priya Hein tells the story with such bravery, candor, and evocative detail that I often mistook it for a true account... Women everywhere will see themselves—their deepest loves and betrayals, and their most delicate relationships—reflected in these pages." National Geographic Traveller described the book as "[a] vivid examination of love, generational trauma and how the impact of slavery still haunts Mauritian lives."
Hein developed the first writing residency in Mauritius, the Tamarin Writing Residency, which began in December of 2025. She created the free one-week residency because:
Bibliography
Awards +YearWorkAwardAwarding BodyResult2026TamarinFiction with a Sense of Place 2026Edward Stanford Travel Writing AwardsShortlist2023RiambelTheme: Commitment, freedom and truthAthéna Book FairWon2023Miles Morland ScholarshipMiles Morland Foundation (MMF)Shortlist2021RiambelJean Fanchette PrizeMunicipal Government of Beau-Bassin Rose-HillWon2021Shortlist2021RiambelLiterary Workshop PrizeFinalist2017Astrid Lindgren Memorial AwardSwedish Government and Swedish Arts CouncilNominee2015Mauritian Achievers AwardFinalist2014The Outstanding Young Person AwardJunior Chamber International of MauritiusFinalist
References