Maria Saskia Hamilton (May 5, 1967 – June 7, 2023) was an American poet, editor, and professor and university administrator at Barnard College.

Additionally, she served as the director of literary programs at the Lannan Foundation, as the Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Curriculum at Barnard College, and as an editor at The Paris Review and Literary Imagination.

Elise Wiarda's grandparents were later honored as Righteous Among the Nations by the State of Israel for housing and hiding Hugo Sinzheimer and his wife.

[2] Saskia attended Georgetown Day School from Grades 5 to 12 and was one of Gary McCown’s many protégés.

[14] She moved to Barnard College in New York City in 2002, where she continued to work until her death.

Andrew Motion writing for The Guardian said, "Her selection, as far as one can judge, is excellent: it certainly gives a rounded picture of a marvellously jagged mind.

[25] Hamilton became Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Curriculum at Barnard College in July 2018.

[31][32][33] Hamilton's name is the title of the tenth track of the 2010 Ben Folds and Nick Hornby collaborative album Lonely Avenue; the song's lyrics are the thoughts of a character who has become obsessed with her based only on the sound of her name.

[34] She first met Folds and Hornby after the album's release, when she attended a performance at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in Lower Manhattan in October 2010.

[34] Hamilton later hosted a conversation with Hornby at the Heyman Center at Columbia University in March 2013 as part of their Writing Lives Series.