Alexandra V. Méndez is a writer, teacher, and scholar who grew up bilingual in Decatur, Georgia, with family roots in Mexico and Mississippi. She graduated from Harvard University in History and Literature and has a Ph.D. in Latin American and Iberian Cultures from Columbia University. Her debut novel What the Jaguar Told Her is an International Latino Book Award winner and was named among Kirkus’s “Best Middle Grade Fiction of 2022.”