María Luisa Arroyo Cruzado, M.F.A., M.A.

Born in Manatí, PR & raised in the North End of Springfield, MA, María Luisa Arroyo Cruzado writes poems & essays that reflect the cultures & languages dynamically intersecting in her life experiences & imagination: American English, Puerto Rican Spanish, German, & Farsi. Her collections include Gathering Words: Recogiendo palabras (2008); two chapbooks Flight (2016), & Destierro Means More than Exile (2018); her photo poem chapbook Landscapes (2023), & her collection of poems & essays, Resistencia: Resilience (Human Error Publishing 2023). Her latest collection of poems, Thought Here Would Cure Me of There, was published by Lily Poetry Books in 2024.  In May 2024, María Luisa received an honorary doctorate from Smith College.  As a Clark Fellow, María Luisa is joyfully pursuing her PhD in Comparative Literature at Binghamton University.