Belén Martínez 

Belén Martínez, was born in Cádiz in 1990 on the same day that Carnival was starting in her city, and perhaps that’s why she’s always been drawn to music, words and magic. She studied nursing, a profession she currently balances with her work as a writer. In 2018, she won the Puck Award in the YA novel category for Una sonata de verano [A Summer Sonata]. Puck has also published her books Cuando reescribamos la historia [When We Re-Write the Story], Después del océano [After the Ocean] and Sangre de dioses [The Blood of Gods]. Her El vals de la bruja [The Witch’s Waltz] and the sequel, El alma de brujo [The Sorcerer’s Soul], have climbed the bestseller lists. In 2024, she’s published Placeres mortales [Mortal Pleasures], an epic historical fantasy inspired by the story of Empress Cixi.