C.M. MAYO is an independent writer, scholar, and literary translator whose works include Meteor (Gival Press Award for Poetry); Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero’s Secret Book, Spiritist Manual (Indie Excellence Award for History), and the novel based on the true story of Agustín de Iturbide y Green in the Court of Maximilian, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire (a Library Journal Best Book).
Mayo is also a noted literary translator of Mexican fiction and poetry, and she is is the editor of a collection of Mexican fiction and essays, Mexico: A Traveler’s Literary Companion.
Mayo’s other recognitions include the Flannery O’Connor for Short Fiction, fellowships to Bread Loaf and Yaddo, an artist residency at the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, and three Lowell Thomas Awards for travel writing. In 2017 she was elected a member of the Texas Institute of Letters.
Her blog is “C.M. Mayo’s Book Notes + Convos” which publishes on the first and third Mondays of the month. You can read it as a self-hosted WordPress site (which has the full archive going back to 2006) or, as of August 2026, on Substack, which offers free subsciption.
She divides her time between Mexico City and San Antonio, Texas.
C.M. Mayo does not participate on social media, other than the blog, but can be contacted directly at pugandbee (at) protonmail (dot) com.