Sandra Cisneros, the acclaimed poet, short story writer, novelist and essayist, will visit Hudson Valley Community College on Friday, April 8, to discuss and share her work, including a new novel published in 2021. Open free to all, the program will be at 11 a.m. in the Bulmer Telecommunications Center Auditorium on the Troy campus.
Cisneros’s writing depicts the lives of immigrants trying to find their way in an often-unwelcoming world. Her coming-of-age classic, “The House on Mango Street” (1984), tells the story of Esperanza Cordero who doesn’t want to belong – at least not to her rundown neighborhood nor to the low expectations the world has for her. She’s a young woman inventing her own future. “Mango Street” is translated into more than 20 languages and is required reading from middle school through college across the United States. Cisneros’s first novel in nearly 10 years, “Martita, I Remember You/Martita, Te Recuerdo” (Vintage Books, dual-language edition, 2021), is an intimate story of memory and friendship. As a young woman, Corina leaves her Mexican family in Chicago with dreams of becoming a writer in Paris. Though brief, her time in the City of Light takes on a lasting glow due to her new friends, Martita and Paola. The women lose touch over the years, until a long-forgotten letter brings back Corina’s days in Paris with startling immediacy.
The writer’s many awards include NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction, the Texas Medal of the Arts, a MacArthur Fellowship, the National Medal of the Arts, and the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree by SUNY Purchase in 1993. She is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico, and currently lives in Mexico.
Time will be allotted for Q&A and a book signing. The event is presented by the Cultural Affairs Program in collaboration with the English, Foreign Languages and English as a Second Language Department.
Per the author’s request, audience members must provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination and wear a mask.
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