Monica Cardenas holds an MA and PhD in English from Royal Holloway, University of London. She authors the Bad Mothers newsletter, and hosts the Bad Mothers podcast on maternal estrangement. Her work has been published in The Audacity, Huffington Post, Literary Hub, and Litro, among others. Originally from Washington, D.C., she resides in Chiltern Hills near London.

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Selected work
- Nonfiction
4

TWO HALVES MAKE ME WHOLE
Litro, 2022
Nonfiction
Essay

Beyond Mothering: Considering Ann Patchett’s Novels of Maternal Ambivalence
Literary Hub, 2024
Nonfiction
Essay

It's Better This Way
the audacity, 2024
Nonfiction
Essay

I Adopted An Abandoned Stray Dog. Our Short Time Together Helped Me Understand My Own Trauma.
Huffington Post, 2025
Nonfiction
Essay