Catalina Murillo was born in Costa Rica in 1970 — in a taxi. From ages seven to seventeen, she attended the Liceo Franco Costarricense. At eight years old, she was the editor of a wall newspaper, El Espeluznante, which she posted on the wall of her house. At the University of Costa Rica, she studied Communication, not knowing what to do with “that great talent of yours,” which, truth be told, no one had yet seen.

She was saved by the Escuela Internacional de Cine in Cuba, where she studied screenwriting and discovered that telling stories was something one could actually dedicate one’s life to. Back in Costa Rica, she published Largo domingo cubano, a chronicle. At twenty-eight, she was reborn in Madrid, where she lived for a couple of decades, working on TV series and teaching screenwriting and creative writing at the Talleres Fuentetaja.

Upon returning to Costa Rica, she published Tiembla, memoria, her most personal book; Maybe Managua, a novel that won the National Novel Prize; and Marzo todopoderoso and Eloísa vertical, works of nonfiction.

In 2024, after publishing Una mujer insignificante with Alfaguara, she was awarded the National Novel Prize.

Her greatest passion is her workshops, Cata Oral. All her life she has lived from words — both written and spoken.