There she developed what was to be the theme of most of her writing, her unique experiences as a Hispanic woman in a largely alien culture. She currently lives in San Miguel de Allende. After graduating from Chicago’s Loyola University (B.A., 1976), Cisneros attended the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop (M.F.A., 1978). Sandra Cisneros is a dual citizen of the United States and Mexico and earns her living by her pen. Her literary papers are preserved in Texas at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University. She is also the organizer of Los MacArturos, Latino MacArthur fellows who are community activists. In addition to her writing, Cisneros has fostered the careers of many aspiring and emerging writers through two non-profits she founded: the Macondo Foundation and the Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation.

Her classic, coming-of-age novel, The House on Mango Street, has sold over six million copies, has been translated into over twenty languages, and is required reading in elementary, high school, and universities across the nation. Most recently, she received the Ford Foundation’s Art of Change Fellowship, was recognized among The Frederick Douglass 200, and was awarded the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. Her numerous awards include NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction, the Texas Medal of the Arts, a MacArthur Fellowship, several honorary doctorates and national and international book awards, including Chicago’s Fifth Star Award, the PEN Center USA Literary Award, and the National Medal of the Arts awarded to her by President Obama in 2016.

SANDRA CISNEROS is a poet, short story writer, novelist and essayist whose work explores the lives of the working-class.

Loose woman by sandra cisneros