SOURCE: "Returning to One's House: An Interview with Sandra Cisneros," in Southwest Review, Vol. 82, No. 2, Spring, 1997, pp. 166-85.

The following is a compilation of two interviews. In an author's note, interviewer Martha Satz states: "The first was conducted in 1985 under the auspices of the Dallas Public Library in a cable TV series titled "Conversations." The second took place on November 17, 1996, in connection with Cisneros's reading during the SMU Literary Festival. The conjunction provides an insight into the development of Cisneros's views and writing."

[Satz:] Your book House on Mango Street has been marketed as a book for young people, but it isn't the sort of book that is usually produced for children. Would you talk about that?

[Cisneros:] I'd like to comment on that. It seems to be marketed as a young people's book, but my readers range anywhere from second graders to university students to housewives. I...