Sandra Cisneros was born to a Mexican father and a Mexican American mother in Chicago in 1954. Cisneros has worked as a college recruiter, an arts administrator, a teacher to high school dropouts, and a poet. She has also visited numerous colleges around the country as a visiting writer. Cisneros was awarded the Before Columbus American Book award for her collection of stories entitled The House on Mango Street, and is also the author of My Wicked Wicked Ways, a volume of poetry. Cisneros currently resides in San Antonio, Texas.