Phenomenally Latina, Proud Boricua
MAYRA CUEVAS is an award-wining author and journalist of books for readers for all ages.
Picture Books: Her debut picture book, My Abuela is a Bruja/Mi Abuela es una Bruja (Penguin Random House) won an International Latino Book award and received starred reviews from School Library Journal, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books and Booklist. It features illustrations by Eisner Award nominated illustrator, Lorena Alvarez Gómez. The holiday themed We Are Going on a Parranda/Nos Vamos de Parranda (Simon & Schuster) was featured in Publisher’s Weekly’s annual Holiday Gift Guide. It features illustrations by acclaimed Puerto Rican artist, Monica Paola Rodriguez.
Young Adult Novels: Mayra’s young adult novel Does My Body Offend You? (co-written with Marie Marquardt) was long-listed for the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award, named a 2023 Book All Young Georgians Should Read, a New York Public Library Best Books for Teens 2022 and a Target YA Book Club selection. In 2023, Mayra was named Georgia Author of the Year in the Young Adult category.
Mayra has also written the YA foodie romcom Salty, Bitter, Sweet named a Best Book of Winter by Hypable. Her short story Resilient was published as part of the anthology Foreshadow: Stories to Celebrate the Magic of Reading and Writing YA. A new young adult novel is currently in production with Knopf.
Adult Novels: Mayra’s debut adult novel co-written with Marie Marquardt, How to Fake a Southern Gentleman (Simon & Schuster) received a starred review from Library Journal and released to wide critical acclaim.
Literary Activism: Mayra is a co-founder and board member of the Latinx KidLit Book Festival, the largest non-for-profit organization dedicated to uplifting the voices of Latinx children’s book creators. Since its inception in 2020, the LKBF has expanded its programs to include school visits, book donations and resources for readers and educators. In recognition for their work, they have received The National Council of Teachers of English’s HERO Award in 2024, the Latinx and Black Caucus's Advocacy Award in 2022, the Library of Congress’ Emerging Strategies Honor and Estée Lauder Companies and National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, WRITING CHANGE award in 2024.
In 2024, Mayra co-founded the LKBF’s Latinx Storytellers Conference—the largest, annual, in-person gathering of Latinx children and adult book writers and illustrators, literary agents, editors and publishing professionals. During this two-day event held in New York, hundreds of Latinx storytellers attend craft masterclasses, professional development sessions, meet with editors and literary agents, and visit the headquarters of global publishing houses and literary agencies.
Mayra is also a member of Las Musas Books authors collective.
Speaker and MFA Professor: Mayra currently teaches in the MFA program at City University of New York, as a Dortort Visiting Professor of Creative Writing. Mayra has been a guest speaker at the LA Festival of Books, San Antonio Book Festival, YALLWest, Decatur Book Festival, Six Bridges Book Festival, Los Angeles Libros Festival, and was a keynote speaker at the Tampa Teen Lit Fest. She loves connecting with readers and is passionate about inspiring new writers to create their best work, especially creators from historically marginalized spaces. She has served as faculty at The Porch, The Highlights Foundation, The Author’s Guild, the Romance Writers of America national conference and spoken at various high schools and colleges across the country.
Workshops and Residencies: Mayra is an alumna of VONA: Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation and Macondo Writers Workshop. She has been awarded artists residencies at the Storyknife Writers Retreat in Alaska, Hambidge Center in North Georgia, and Ucross Foundation in Wyoming.
Journalism: Mayra is a former CNN award-winning producer, where she worked for almost 20 years. She reported on a wide range of domestic and international news, most recently as a producer for CNN’s Special Projects unit. In 2021, she received an Anthem Award for the series Champions for Change. Mayra earned an Investigative Reporting Masters in Science from Florida International University and a Bachelors in Science of Communication from the University of Sacred Heart in Puerto Rico.
Boricua hasta en la Luna: Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Mayra keeps her sanity by practicing Buddhist meditation and serves on the management team of Kadampa Meditation Center Georgia. She lives in Athens, GA with her husband and a very loud Chihuahua. She is the stepmom to two amazing young men who provide plenty of inspiration for her stories. Their family was featured in Season 2 of Buying and Selling with the Property Brothers.
To learn how to pronounce her name, click here: Mayra + Cuevas
For the latests news visit Mayra’s Instagram page.
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I was 12 years old when I discovered the amazing novels written by Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Following their example, I decided journalism was the best career choice for someone who wanted to tell stories. Since then, my work has appeared in CNN, HLN, In Session on truTV (Court TV) and EFE International News Agency. I have reported on domestic and international events but nothing compared to the thrill of selling my first story.
Things that make me smile: a silent meditation retreat, cooking for people I love, traveling somewhere new, staying home on a rainy day, Seinfeld and The Office re-runs, playing Scrabble and Monopoly, homemade ice cream, books with funny lines, when my husband suggests EVERY single time that my male protagonists should be based on him.
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