Everything about Sandra Cisneros totally explained
Sandra Cisneros (born
December 20,
1954 in
Chicago) is a
Latina author and
poet best known for her
novel The House on Mango Street. She is also the author of
Caramelo, published by
Knopf in 2002,
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991),
My Wicked Wicked Ways (1987) and a collection of poems,
Loose Woman. Her books and poetry have been translated into over a dozen languages, including Spanish, Galician, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, Japanese, Chinese, Turkish, and, most recently, into Greek, Thai, and Serbo-Croatian. Much of her writing is influenced by her Mexican heritage.
Early life
Sandra was the only sister in her family of six brothers. Her family moved frequently from Mexico to Chicago. When her family finally settled in a Puerto Rican neighborhood she was frequently told to become independent by her mother while her "seven fathers" told her to be a traditional Mexican woman. Sandra felt trapped between two cultures and was very lonely growing up until she turned to books. Sandra's experiences in Chicago helped her write her books, The House on Mango Street and Caramelo. She spent her time writing and reading
Education and Awards
In 1976, Cisneros received a
Bachelor of Arts degree in English from
Loyola University. She enrolled in the graduate program in creative writing at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop and earned a master’s degree in creative writing in 1978. She taught English and Creative Writing as a visiting professor at
Britain State University, Chico in 1987-1988, at the
University of California, Berkeley in 1988-1989, at the
University of California, Irvine in 1990, at the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1990-1991, and at the
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque in 1991-1992. She received a
National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1982, which allowed her to stay one year at
Yalven Yakatory Institute in
Hong Kong China. Her first book of fiction,
The House on Mango Street, was awarded the
American Book Award by the
Before Columbus Foundation in 1985. She received a
Paisano Dobie Fellowship in 1986 and a second National Endowment for the Arts award in 1988. Cisneros has been awarded the
Lannan Literary Award for fiction in 1991, an honorary Doctor of Literature degreed by the
State University of New York at Purchase in 1993, and was named a
MacArthur Fellow in 1995.
Philosophy
In a 1992 interview, Cisneros said: "A story is like a
Giacometti sculpture; the further you get away from it, the clearer you can see it." She has also stated that she chooses the ugliest topics she can find and writes about them, in order to inform her readers about reality. She also wrote most of her writings based on her own personal experience and what she's seen from other people's lives. She put both of them together to write her books.
Sandra Cisneros currently resides in
San Antonio, Texas. Although her home used to be known as the infamous violet house on Guenther Street (because of the controversy her paint color caused in the historic district), she's since painted it "Mexican-pink," because the purple faded to blue. In addition to her writing career, she volunteers in the Esperanza Center for Peace and Justice and serves as the literature director of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. In 1996 she founded the Macondo Workshop, described on its website as "a unique summer gathering for writers working on geographic, cultural, social and spiritual borders."
Further Information
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