Educated at Colby (BA), Tufts (MA), and Harvard (ABD) in German language and literature, María Luisa Arroyo has facilitated numerous poetry workshops, including at the 2012 and 2014 Split This Rock Poetry Festival (Washington, DC); the 2012-2014 Monson (MA) Arts Council (Monson, MA); and the ongoing Vitamin P for Poetry Series in the Springfield. MA libraries. A 2004 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant for poetry, María Luisa writes narrative poems, many of which illuminate truths which are otherwise unnamed in order to interrupt the silence about lived or witnessed issues of domestic violence, child abuse, and other social injustices. Gathering Words: Recogiendo Palabras (Bilingual Press: 2008) is her first collection of poems. Arroyo also co-edited with the nationally renown playwright and poet Magdalena Gómez an intergenerational multicultural anthology, Bullying: Replies, Rebuttals, Confessions, and Catharsis (Skyhorse Publishing: 2012). Currently, María Luisa is a low-residency MFA Solstice candidate in Creative Writing (Poetry) at Pine Manor College (Chestnut Hill, MA).
In September 2014, María Luisa Arroyo was named the first Poet Laureate of Springfield, MA.
Contact Information: mlarroyo67@hotmail.com or marialuisaarroyo.weebly.com
