Claudia Guadalupe MartÃnez has lived in Mexico, Texas, California Massachusetts and Illinois. The core of her childhood memories are set in El Paso, Texas. This dynamic of growing up between borders inspires her writing. Her books include: The Smell of Old Lady Perfume, Pig Park, Not a Bean, Spirit Untamed: The Movie Novel, and Still Dreaming. Other published work includes several books written for educational publishers like Pearson, Benchmark and Capstone under the name Claudia Oviedo. Her work has garnered her two Texas Institute of Letters Best Young Adult Book Awards, a Paterson Prize for Books for Young People, an Américas Award Commendation, Library Guild Award and multiple starred reviews.
When she is not working on her books, Claudia uses her graduate degree in English Education from the University of Illinois to teach writing at the college level. She also provides sensitivity reads regarding Latinx culture to publishers on a regular basis.