Bio

Claudia Guadalupe Martínez learned that letters formed words from reading the subtitles of old westerns with her father. The dynamic of growing up between borders in El Paso, Texas inspires her writing. She now lives and works in Illinois. Books include: The Smell of Old Lady Perfume, Pig Park, Spirit Untamed: The Movie Novel, Not a Bean, Still Dreaming, Not a Monster, and Not a Dog. Other published work includes several books written for educational publishers like Pearson, Benchmark and Capstone under a pen name. 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.

Claudia has a graduate degree in English and, when she is not working on her books, she teaches professional writing at a university. She also regularly provides sensitivity reads regarding Latinx culture to publishers.