Maria van Daalen

{{short description|Dutch poet and writer}}

Maria van Daalen (born 8 July 1950) is a Dutch poet and writer. Maria van Daalen is a pseudonym of Maria Machelina de Rooij.

She was born in Voorburg and studied at the VU University Amsterdam{{cite web |url=http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/bork001schr01_01/bork001schr01_01_0227.php |title=Daalen, Maria van |publisher=Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren}} and at the University of Iowa, where she also took part in the International Writing Program.{{cite web |url=http://iwp.uiowa.edu/writers/maria-van-daalen-0 |title=Maria van Daalen |publisher=University of Iowa}} She has taught at the Schrijversvakschool in Amsterdam.

She is also an expert on the subject of Vodou and, in 2007, was initiated as a Mambo Asogwe in Haiti. She was an advisor for an exhibit of Vodou art objects at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam.{{cite web |url=http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poet/item/13468/6/Maria-van-Daalen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019204327/http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poet/item/13468/6/Maria-van-Daalen |url-status=usurped |archive-date=October 19, 2012 |title=Maria van Daalen |publisher=Poetry International Rotterdam}}

Van Daalen published her first poetry collection Raveslag (The Beat of the Raven’s Wing) in 1987; it was shortlisted for the C. Buddingh' Prize. Translations of her poems have appeared in various publications in English, Romanian, Finnish, German, Italian, French, Persian and Frisian.