Author Laura Atwood Durán was born and raised in Boston Massachusetts. While studying Spanish as a foreign language in junior high, she fell head-over-heels in love: first with the language; and eventually, after completing a summer at Middlebury College Summer Language School and while attending New York University’s year-abroad program in Madrid, with a real, live Spaniard. Upon graduation from Simmons College (B.A. in Spanish; Department Award of Foreign Language & Literature) she married her príncipe azul* and together they lived, worked, and raised a family, first in Spain and eventually in the U.S.
During their years in Boston, Durán realized that their “eleven-nearly-twelve” year old daughter, who enjoyed a close bond with her American grandmother, did not have a similar bond with her other grandmother across the ocean (unlike her older brothers who had grown up in Spain). So, she began to write Nervous Mary, as a way of helping her daughter get to know her Spanish grandmother. She has published a Spanish version of the book as well.
Now she is working on a sequel. She hopes you enjoy her books!

*Knight in shining armor