maitreyi anantharaman

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grew up Michigan and lives in Chicago. She covers women’s basketball and other sports as a staff writer at Defector, the worker-owned subscription website she co-founded in 2020.

She’s studied Angel Reese’s knack for offensive rebounding up close in Chicago; heard A’ja Wilson hush a Finals crowd in Phoenix; watched Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and the UConn Huskies cut down the nets in Tampa; and reported from the media circus at Caitlin Clark’s Indiana home debut. 

Her writing about the WNBA has been anthologized in the 2025 edition of The Year’s Best Sports Writing and in the essay collection Play It Forward. She’s talked hoops as a guest on podcasts and radio programs like NPR’s All Things Considered, WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show, The Ringer WNBA Show, and Slate’s What’s Next. 

She’s at work on a book about the rapid cultural rise of women’s basketball and its young superstars for Dutton/Penguin Random House.

contact: maitreyi [at] defector [dot] com // represented by Laura Usselman at Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency