Eliud Martínez was the first of six children born to Estroberto and Maria (neé Correa) Martínez. Estroberto was born in Cerralvo, Nuevo Leon on February 28, 1901 to Eusebio and Estefana (neé Gonzalez) Martínez. He moved with his parents in 1905 or 1906 to McAllen, Texas. The family later settled in Pflugerville, Texas in the early 1920s. Maria Correa was born on November 24, 1907 in Laredo, Texas to Teodoro Correa-Robles and Francisca Lopez-Gonzalez. Estroberto and Maria married on March 17, 1934 and subsequently had six children: Eliud; Belia; Teodoro; Estroberto, Jr.; Adan; and Heriberto. In 1938 the family moved to Austin where they would eventually buy a home in East Austin. Estroberto worked as construction laborer and while both parents had little formal education they encouraged all of their children to pursue an education. Maria died at the age of 82 on March 31, 1989. Estroberto died on February 29, 1996, one day after his 95th birthday.

Eliud was born on January 21, 1935 in Pflugerville, Texas. A few years after the family moved to Austin he entered Bickler Elementary School and went on to graduate from John T. Allan Junior High School, Stephen F. Austin High School and, after a stint in the military, the University of Texas at Austin with a B.F.A degree in studio art and art history. He continued his education by pursing a Ph.D in English and Comparative Literature as well as post-graduate work in Mexico in art history and Latin American cultural history. Along with being a novelist and artist he was a professor of Comparative Literature and Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside.

SOURCE: adapted from biography written by Eliud Martínez.