Mariella Saavedra Carquin

Mariella Saavedra Carquin has practiced as a licensed mental health counselor in New York City in clinical, higher education, and middle school settings and now works as a clinician in integrated pediatric primary care. She is a graduate of Middlebury College, holds an EdM and an MA in psychological counseling from Columbia University, and recently earned an MA from Middlebury’s Bread Loaf School of English. She was the first place winner of the Robert Haiduke Poetry Prize in 2020 and the 3rd place winner in 2022 . Her first collection of poetry, Maps You Can’t Make, is a timely meditation on trauma, the disorientation of it, and how we carry it. This vivid exploration of grief and loss focuses on the immigrant experience, memory and identity, the fragmentation of relationships, and the power of dreams. In addition to writing poetry, she has published in various academic journals on the psychological impact of microaggressions experienced by undocumented immigrant youth. Born in Lima, Peru, and raised in Miami, Florida, she currently lives in Colorado.