Beatriz Badikian was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and has resided in Chicago since 1970. In 1994 Badikian earned her Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she specialized in poetry and multiethnic literature. Listed below are fellowships, awards, and grants she has received:

Nomination for Pushcart Prize XVIII, 1993
Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1989
Time Inc. Fellowship, Bennington College, 1986
Special Assistance Grant, Illinois Arts Council, 1986
Fanny Butcher Fellowship, The Ragdale Foundation, 1986
Neighborhood Arts Program, Chicago Office of Fine Arts, 1984
Chairman's Grant, Illinois Arts Council, 1984

Since 1994 Badikian has been a faculty member at Roosevelt University where she teaches literature., writing, and women's studies. Her publications include:

Books:

Mapmaker Revisited. Chicago: Gladsome Books, 1999.
Mapmaker. Chicago: Red Triangle Books, 1994.
Akewa is a Woman and Other Poems. Chicago: MARCH/Abrazo Press, 1989.
Akewe is a Woman. Chicago: MARCH/Abrazo Press, 1983.

Poetry:

Numerous journals, anthologies, newspapers, and textbooks, including: Powerlines, Shards of Light, Seeding the Snow, Third Woman, The Americas Review, Spoon River Quarterly, Hammers, Emergency Tacos, Pleiades, Lucky Star, Raptures, Imagine, Tonantzin, Haymarket, Ecos, The Beast in a Cage of Words, Iowa Woman International Issue, The Poetry Connection, La Raza.

Her poems have also been translated and published in India, Greece, Mexico, Argentina, and Canada.