Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954. Internationally acclaimed for her poetry and fiction, and the recipient of numerous awards including two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, Cisneros is also the author of Woman Hollering Creed and Other Stories and two collections of poetry: My Wicked, Wicked Ways, and Loose Woman.

The House on Mango Street tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and hard beauty. Esperanza doesn't want to belong -- not to her rundown neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Esperanza's story is that of a young girl coming into her power, and inventing for herself what she will become.

"It's not always that a luscious writer can be a luscious reader of her own work. This must be the voice she hears in her head when she writes her magical prose." -Julia Alvarez, author of "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents."

Listen to an excerpt from The House on Mango Street (Random House Audio) as Sandra Cisneros brings to life this greatly admired novel.