PhD Candidate in Hispanic Literature
Department of
Spanish and Portuguese
Biography
Claudia Cardenas is a Ph.D. candidate in literature in the Department of Spanish & Portuguese. She was born in Los Angeles, California. However, while she grew up in Tijuana, Mexico, she was brought back to California at age 10. In 2000, she received her bachelor's degree from San Diego State University in Spanish with a minor in Latin American Studies. She moved to New York City in 2004 to do research on 16th and 17th Century Peninsular Literature at Hunter College, which opened her up to literature. She continued at the University of New Mexico, where she received her master’s degree in 2021. Claudia is also an independent writer. She wrote her first set of short stories in 2006. She recently published her first novel based on a true story, ¿Por qué? La Vida de Ofelia Su Mundo Entre Dos Países: Su Historia, in September 2022, which became a bestseller the same day it was released. The second book of this saga is set to release in 2023. The interest of Claudia’s thesis is women of Latin America and their connection to religion, social class, technology throughout history. 