Layal Hilal is 12 years old and is half Palestinian half Syrian. She has been homeschooled since kindergarten and she loved it and still does. She loves to read, sing, write her novels, play piano, and hike, and she’s hoping to pursue writing as a career. Layal also really wants to be an actor when she grows up. Actually, she’d prefer it if that could happen very soon! Reading is definitely her favorite subject, which you’d probably get right away if you stepped inside her bedroom. It has turned into something of a bookstore, only nobody is allowed to buy or borrow anything. Her favorite book series are the Sky Fall series, Keeper of the Lost Cities, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, The Baby Sitters Club, and Wings of Fire. She also desperately wants to read the Hunger Games. Layal is also working on three novels at once, two with her best friend and one by herself. (Titles to be revealed!) She started reading and writing when she was two years old though, so it’s not too much of a challenge. (That’s not true). She joined the Lighthouse out of her love for writing and wanting to be part of a community of writers. She has two adorable kittens, Dua’a (Layal’s kitten) and Zainab (Her sister’s kitten) that she got six months ago, and she loves them more than she ever thought she could! Except when they claw her when she squeezes them too tight. (Accidently! Accidently!) Layal plays the piano, sings every moment she can, and hates talking to people she doesn’t know on the phone (She gets tongue twisted). Her main passion since discovering how much she enjoyed writing has been writing for and about freedom in every oppressed country she knows about.
Quick Fun Fact: In 2022, Layal was given an assignment in school to write a short fantasy story, about two to three pages long. That assignment was never submitted. It is, in fact, one of her novels and it has reached nearly one hundred twenty pages! She really hopes the teacher will accept a novel for the assignment…she will, right?
The Lighthouse 