Mayra Santos-Febres began writing at the age of five because her asthma did not permit her to "climb trees or ride bikes like the kids in the neighborhood.
[5][1] Santos-Febres acknowledged in El País the Puerto Rican narrators who influenced her career: “I come from a long tradition of women writers, Rosario Ferré, Giannina Braschi, Ana Lydia Vega.
Santos-Febres' first novel was Sirena Selena vestida de pena (Spain: Grijalbo Mondadori, 2000) about a teenaged drag queen who works in the streets and sings boleros.
[16] Mayra Santos-Febres’s diverse body of work has been critically examined across various platforms, highlighting her contributions to Caribbean and Latin American literature.
Reviews by scholars such as Daniel Torres on La amante de Gardel, William Luis on Fe en disfraz, and Carlos A. Colón Ruiz on Antes que llegue la luz, alongside Honora Spicer’s analysis of Boat People, showcase her exploration of race, gender, and diaspora through richly layered narratives.
Additionally, the podcast series En Voz de Mayra Santos-Febres offers a firsthand perspective on her works and thematic focus.
Santos-Febres teaches at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, where she specializes in African, Caribbean, and feminist literature.