C.M.
Mayo is an award-winning essayist and novelist who was born
in El Paso, Texas and (to make a very long story short) has been
living in Mexico City for more than 25 years. In 2017 she was
elected to the Texas Institute of Letters.
Her most recent works include Metaphysical
Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and
His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual; Miraculous
Air, a travel memoir of Mexico's Baja California peninsula,
and The Last
Prince of the Mexican Empire, a novel based on the true
story and named a Library Journal Best Book 2009. An avid
literary translator, she is also editor of the collection Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion (Whereabouts
Press).
Mayo's travel writing on Mexico has been published in Business
Mexico, Cenizo Journal, Los Angeles Times and Wall
Street Journal, as well as literary journals including Creative
Nonfiction, Fourth Genre, Massachusetts Review, and Southwest
Review. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards,
among them, several Lowell Thomas Awards for Travel Journalism
and the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction.
 She
began podcasting in 2009 with her recorded
lecture at the Library of Congress in Washington DC, on the
original research behind her novel, The Last Prince of the
Mexican Empire. It was the beginning of an adventure in podcasting
that resulted in this project, as well as others, including Conversations with Other Writers.
To read some of C.M. Mayo's work on-line, and for a more detailed
biography and list of publications, interviews, translations,
and more, please visit her website, www.cmmayo.com
 |
 In a blend
of personal essay and a rendition of deeply researched metaphysical
and Mexican history that reads like a novel, award-winning writer
and noted literary translator C.M.
Mayo
provides a rich introduction and the first English translation
of Spiritist
Manual, the secret
book by Francisco
I. Madero,
leader of Mexico's 1910 Revolution and President of Mexico, 1911-1913.
"In my fifteen years of researching the life of President
Francisco I. Madero, I have never read a more complete book as
the one just written by C.M. Mayo. It will simply surprise any
reader. The research is impeccable and the narrative well-rounded."
Manuel
Guerra de Luna, author of Los Madero: La Saga Liberal |
Professional Affiliations include:
American
Literary Translators Association
Authors
Guild
Biographers
International
Maryland
Writers Association
National
Book Critics Circle
Texas
Institute of Letters
Women
Writing the West
|
|
 |
WORLD WAITING
FOR A DREAM
A
Turn in Far West Texas
A work-in-progress
by C.M. MAYO |
.
Listen
in any time to all the "Marfa Mondays" podcasts,
which include some material that will be in the book. And if
you'd like to be notified when this title is available, I welcome
you to sign up for my free every other monthly-ish newsletter.
|
Click YES
for the opt-in form from MailChimp.com.
It's automatic, it's free, and you can opt-out at any time. |
|
|
|
PRAISE
FOR OTHER
WORKS
BY C.M. MAYO |
.
METAPHYSICAL ODYSSEY INTO THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION:
Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual
BY C.M.
MAYO
WINNER,
NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARD FOR HISTORY
"In my fifteen years
of researching the life of President Francisco I. Madero, I have
never read a more complete book as the one just written by C.M.
Mayo. It will simply surprise any reader. The research is impeccable
and the narrative well-rounded."
Manuel
Guerra de Luna, author of Los Madero: La Saga Liberal
"Mayo does a brilliant job combining the known facts of
the Mexican Revolution and Madero's role within it, and creates
an intellectual bridge to the president's spiritist belief structure...
Heribert
von Feilitzsch, author of In Plain Sight: Felix Sommerfeld,
Spymaster in Mexico |
THE LAST PRINCE
OF THE MEXICAN EMPIRE
BY C.M.
MAYO
A
LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK, 2009
"I have read
a few sweeping historical novels that have remain inside of me
forever. Tolstoy's War and Peace is one of those, Dickens's
A Tale of Two Cities is another, Pasternak's Doctor
Zhivago is another, and now The Last Prince of the Mexican
Empire is another."
James
Tipton, Mexico Connect
"a swashbuckling, riotous
good time, befitting the fairy-tale promise of the opening sentence."
Austin
American-Statesman |
MIRACULOUS
AIR:
Journey of a Thousand Miles
through Baja California, the Other Mexico
BY
C.M. MAYO
 "With elegant prose
and an artist's eye for detail, Mayo may just have written one
of the best books ever about Baja California. Highly recommended"
Library
Journal
"A
breathtaking vision of the past, present, and future of [Baja
California]... Meticulously researched... a valuable combination
of historical and social study"
El
Paso Times |
|
SKY
OVER EL NIDO
BY
C.M. MAYO
WINNER,
FLANNERY O'CONNOR AWARD FOR SHORT FICTION
 "A remarkable literary
debut... tautly fashioned prose, alive with myriad turns of phrase
as on-target as they are idiosyncratic."
Publisher's
Weekly (starred
review)
"C.M. Mayo
writes some of the most exquisitely fashioned, perfectly measured
prose alive in the world today. Her stories glitter with delicious
odd details. They feel electrically charged, richly mysterious,
and rhythmic. I love her layering of cultures, her offbeat humor,
her potent instinct for voices. Bravo! Captivating! Yes, yes,
yes!"
Naomi
Shihab Nye |
MEXICO:
A Traveler's Literary Companion
EDITED
BY C.M. MAYO
"This
is a book to throw in a suitcase or mochila (backpack) on the
way to Mexico or just settling into a favorite patio chair. It
will open your eyes, fill you with pleasure and render our perennial
vecinos a little less distante."
Los
Angeles Times Book Review |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
C. M. MAYO
This Project +
C.M. Mayo + 
Lonn Taylor, "The
Rambling Boy," reports on the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project.