Sandra Cisneros
1954-
Other Works
The House on Mango Street
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories
Moving Days Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up as the only daughter in a family with seven children. Her father was Mexican, and her mother was Mexican American. Because of her father's homesickness, the family moved frequently between Chicago and Mexico City when she was a young girl. Consequently, she never stayed in either place long enough to make close friends. "I didn't like school because we moved so much, and I was always new and funny looking," she says. She remembers being shy in class: "I never opened my mouth except when the teacher called on me."
Reading and Writing Despite her awkwardness in class, Cisneros read a great deal on her own. This reading led her to develop an interest in writing. At first, she wrote poetry, but only in private. She was also editor of the school's literary magazine. When she went to college at Loyola University in Chicago, she majored in English. Later, she attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop,
where she received a master's degree in creative writing. While at Iowa, Cisneros began her novel The House on Mango Street. It is the story of Esperanza Cordero, a young girl who moves from house to house while growing up in Chicago, just as Cisneros did. Writing the novel, Cisneros says,
gave her a chance to think some more about growing up: "I asked questions I didn't know how to ask when I was an adolescent."
Working with Youth After graduation, Cisneros completed her novel while teaching and counseling high school dropouts at Chicago's Latino Youth Alternative High School. The stories that her students told her about their lives influenced her writing. Later, she became a poet-in-residence at several schools as well as a visiting writer at several colleges.
Success as a Writer In 1986 Cisneros moved to San Antonio, Texas, where she currently lives. She continues to teach, and this once shy student has received numerous awards and other recognition for her writing. Her short story collection Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories won the Los Angeles Times Book Award in 1991. Now a famous writer, Cisneros continues to speak out on behalf of the poor and oppressed.
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