Woman Hollering Creek (27 page)
Read Woman Hollering Creek Online
Authors: Sandra Cisneros
And every bird in the universe chittering, jabbering, clucking, chirruping, squawking, gurgling, going crazy because God-bless-it another day has ended, as if it never had yesterday and never will again tomorrow. Just because it’s today, today. With no thought of the future or past. Today. Hurray. Hurray!
¡tan
TÁN!
Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954. Internationally acclaimed for her poetry and fiction, she has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Lannan Literary Award and the American Book Award, and of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the MacArthur Foundation. Cisneros is the author of two novels,
The House on Mango Street
and
Caramelo
; a collection of short stories,
Woman Hollering Creek
; two books of poetry,
My Wicked Wicked Ways
and
Loose Woman
; and a children’s book,
Hairs/Pelitos.
She is the founder of the Macondo Foundation, an association of writers united to serve underserved communities (
www.macondofoundation.org
), and is Writer in Residence at Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio. She lives in San Antonio, Texas. Find her online at
www.sandracisneros.com
.
The House on Mango Street
(English)
La casa en Mango Street
(Spanish)
Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories
(English)
El Arroyo de la Llorona
(Spanish)
My Wicked Wicked Ways
(poetry)
Loose Woman
(poetry)
Hairs/Pelitos
(for young readers)
Caramelo
(English)
Caramelo
(Spanish)
S
ANDRA
C
ISNEROS
CARAMELO
Every year, Ceyala “Lala” Reyes’ family—aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, and Lala’s six older brothers—packs up three cars and, in a wild ride, drives from Chicago to the Little Grandfather and Awful Grandmother’s house in Mexico City for the summer. Struggling to find a voice above the boom of her brothers and to understand her place on this side of the border and that, Lala is a shrewd observer of family life. But when she starts telling the Awful Grandmother’s life story, seeking clues to how she got to be so awful, grandmother accuses Lala of exaggerating. Soon, a multigenerational family narrative turns into a whirlwind exploration of storytelling, lies, and life. Like the cherished rebozo, or shawl, that has been passed down through generations of Reyes women,
Caramelo
is alive with the vibrations of history, family, and love.
Fiction
LOOSE WOMEN
With her novel,
The House on Mango Street
, Cisneros introduced one of the most lyrically inventive voices ever to emerge from the barrio. Now she gives us a book of poems with the lilt of
Norteño
music and the romantic abandon of a hot Saturday night. Celebrating the cataclysms of love and mapping the faultlines in the Mexican-American psyche,
Loose Woman
is by turns bawdy and introspective, flagrantly erotic and unabashedly funny, a work that is both a tour de force and a triumphant outpouring of pure soul.
Poetry
WOMAN HOLLERING CREEK
Woman Hollering Creek
is a story collection of breathtaking range and authority, whose characters give voice to the vibrant and varied life on both sides of the Mexican border. From a young girl revealing secrets only an eleven-year-old can know to a witch woman circling above the village on a predawn flight, the women in these stories offer tales of pure discovery, filled with moments of infinite and intimate wisdom.
Woman Hollering Creek
confirms Sandra Cisneros’s stature as a writer of electrifying talent.
Fiction
ALSO AVAILABLE
The House on Mango Street
VINTAGE CONTEMPORARIES
Available at your local bookstore, or visit
www.randomhouse.com