About The Author
SANDRA CISNEROS (1954- )
Sandra Cisneros was born in 1954 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father is Mexican and her mother is Mexican-American. She has six brothers. During her childhood, the family moved frequently between Mexico City and Chicago. She recalls a great deal of loneliness from the constant moves as well as from not having a sister. Cisneros was very shy, and spent a great deal of time reading. The Little House was her favorite book because it described the kind of stable family home she longed for.
Cisneros wrote in secret during her elementary school years. By the time she was in high school she was writing poetry and editing the school literary magazine. While in a creative writing class in college in 1974 she began writing seriously and developing her own unique voice.
She received her B. A. in English from Loyola University in Chicago, and her M. A. from the writing program at the University of Iowa. Since she was the only minority female in the class, she felt like an outsider. This feeling led her to develop her unique writing style.
The House on Mango Street was her first book, written in 1983. Her other works are: My Wicked Ways, (1987); "Ghosts and Voices: Writing from Obsession," Americas Review, 15 (Spring 1987): 69-73; "Notes to a Young(er) Writer," Americas Review, 15 (Spring 1987): 74-76; "DO You Know Me? I Wrote The House On Mango Street," Americas Review 15 (Spring 1987): 77-79; Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories (1991), Loose Woman: Poems (1994). In 1994, she also wrote a children's book, Hairs/Pelitos, with a Spanish translation by Liliana Valenzuela. Her novels, The House on Mango Street and Caramelo, have also been translated to Spanish.
Ms. Cisneros currently lives and writes in San Antonio, Texas.
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