Her novels and poetry have been translated into over twelve languages, including Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese and most recently into Greek and Thai. Her Mexican heritage is said to be the major inspiration for her writings. She sketches most of her characters and incidents based on the incidents and people she has faced in her childhood. This is the reason why the characters in her books appear to be far away from mainstream American culture.
Sandra was the only daughter among seven children. Since her brothers used to control her very much, she often felt that she had "seven fathers". Her family used to shift places frequently between Mexico and Chicago. They finally settled at a Puerto Rican neighborhood. Her "seven fathers" frequently told her to be a traditional Mexican lady and her mother always told her to be independent. She felt very much like trapped between the changing cultures with the changing places and she was lonely while growing up and she slowly turned to books.
She went to Josephinum Academy for high school in Chicago and in the year 1976, she received Bachelor degree in Arts in English from Loyola University, Chicago. She then got herself enrolled at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop for graduate program in creative writing. Eventually she earned a Master's degree in writing in 1978. As a visiting professor, she taught creative writing and English at the California State University during the year 1988 and 1989, at the University of California in the year 1990, at the University of Michigan during the years 1991 and 1992, and at the University of New Mexico during 1991 and 1992.
Her first fiction book "The House on Mango Street" received the American Book Award in the year 1985. She received Paisano Dobie Fellowship in the year 1986 and she received two National Endowment awards in 1982 and 1988. In the year 1991, she received Lannan Literary Award for fiction. In the same year, she received the Doctor of Literature degree from the State University of New York. She was named MacArthur Fellow in the year 1995.
She usually writes about bad topics in order to make the readers be aware of the reality. She also wrote most of her books based on her experiences and by observing other people around her. She currently resides in San Antonio (Texas).
