Maren Schiffer is a poet, writer, and educator currently based in Brooklyn, NY. Categories are categories, but she lives within those of the mad and neuroqueer. (She is also a swimmer.) She received her M.F.A in Creative Writing (Poetry) from the University of Montana and her B.A. from Whitman College. They are the recipient of a 2023 Massachusetts Cultural Grant for Artists and a 2018 Academy of American Poets University Prize, selected by Jane Wong; they were a finalist for the 2022 Wisconsin Institute of Creative Writing Fellowship and a semi-finalist for the 2021 Tomaž Šalamun Prize, judged by Sawako Nakayasu.

Maren teaches poetry and writing workshops for community organizations locally and in the virtual sphere. She has also taught first-year writing and poetry at Boston College, UMass Lowell, University of Montana, and Suffolk University, as well as “Writing the Future: Poetry and Collective Action” at Suffolk University. She received institutional recognition from Suffolk for her dedicated support of students. Outside of universities, they work with families and kids, specializing in neurodivergent learning and support, as well as with arts and cultural organizations fundraising for creative initiatives and projects.