Maida Tilchen, born in 1949 in Brooklyn, N.Y., received her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from SUNY Stony Brook in 1971, and a Master of Science in Education in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University in 1976.

From 1973-1974, Tilchen served with the Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) in Vincennes, Indiana. From 1976 to 1993, she held various research and writing jobs. She moved to Boston in 1980. From 1993-2001, she worked as a writing tutor at Cambridge College in Massachusetts. In 2001, Cambridge College promoted her to direct library services where she remained until her retirement in 2015.

Tilchen helped produce women's music concerts in Bloomington Indiana from 1975-1980. She co-wrote the first article about lesbian pulps by “second wave” lesbians, published in Margins Magazine in 1975. From 1976, she published articles in a variety of feminist and LGBT books and publications, including Body Politic and Gay Community News, writing primarily on women’s music, LGBT literature, Jewish, and anti-nuclear issues. From 1980-1982, she was the Promotions Manager at Gay Community News (Boston). In the early 1980s, she helped backstage for Allegra Productions in Boston, Mass.

In 1982, Tilchen wrote the foreword to The Lesbian in Literature: A Bibliography (Tallahassee, Fla.: Naiad Press, 1981). Her historical novel, Land Beyond Maps (Salem, NY: Savvy Press, 2009) was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist for Lesbian Debut Fiction in 2010 and won New Mexico and Arizona Book Association awards. Her second novel, She’s Gone Santa Fe (Salem, NY: Savvy Press, 2013) was a finalist for New Mexico and Arizona Book Association awards. In 2020, Tilchen won the Ticknor Society Book and Book Culture Collecting prize for her New Mexico book collection.