Mayra Cuevas Books in Order

Mayra Cuevas was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where reading and storytelling became central to her life early on. The island’s culture, food, family ties, and sense of place continue to show up in her work, whether she is writing for teens or younger children.

When she was twelve, Cuevas discovered novels by Isabel Allende and Gabriel García Márquez. Their stories made her want to tell stories, too. She decided journalism was a practical way to make a living from that urge, and later earned degrees in communications and investigative reporting.

For years, she worked as a journalist and producer, covering domestic and international news. Her reporting appeared across several news outlets, and she spent much of her career with CNN, including its Special Projects unit. In 2021, she received an Anthem Award for work on the series Champions for Change.

But fiction kept calling her back.

Cuevas began seriously pursuing a novel in 2012. The path was not quick: early drafts failed, one manuscript collected hundreds of rejections, and a later book found an agent but did not sell. She kept learning, revising, and writing through the disappointments. In 2018, her short story “Resilient” was selected for the YA anthology Foreshadow: Stories to Celebrate the Magic of Reading and Writing YA.

Her debut novel, Salty, Bitter, Sweet, arrived in 2020. It follows Isabella Fields, a Cuban-French-American teenager trying to earn a place in a demanding culinary apprenticeship in Lyon while her family life is changing around her. Readers who like food, slow-burn romance, ambitious girls, and messy family conversations will find plenty to dig into. Cuevas uses the pressure of a professional kitchen to explore grief, belonging, and the question of who gets to chase a big dream.

In 2022, she and Marie Marquardt published Does My Body Offend You?, a YA novel told through the perspectives of Malena Rosario and Ruby McAllister. After a Florida school humiliates Malena over its dress code, the two girls help lead a protest while learning about friendship, activism, race, privilege, and when to listen. The book was longlisted for the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award, and Cuevas was named Georgia Author of the Year in the young adult category that same year.

Cuevas also writes for younger readers. Her picture book My Abuela Is a Bruja, illustrated by Lorena Alvarez Gómez, celebrates a granddaughter’s belief that her Puerto Rican abuela’s cooking, gardening, dancing, and hugs are real magic. It carries the same interest in family, heritage, and everyday rituals that runs through her novels.

Today, Cuevas teaches creative writing in the MFA program at City University of New York and cofounded the Latinx Kidlit Book Festival and its Latinx Storytellers Conference. She practices modern Buddhism and meditation, and splits her time between Atlanta and Puerto Rico with her family. Her books often make room for humor, heart, good food, and people figuring out how to speak up for themselves.