Carmen Calatayud is the daughter of immigrants: A Spanish father and Irish mother. Her book This Tangled Body was published by FlowerSong Press, in conjunction with Letras Latinas, in 2024. Her first book In the Company of Spirits (Press 53) was a runner-up for the Academy of American Poets Walt Whitman Award and a finalist for the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. Calatayud is a Larry Neal Poetry Award winner and a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop.