SOURCE: Cisneros, Sandra with Feroza Jussawalla and Reed Way Dasenbrock. “Sandra Cisneros.” In Interviews with Writers of the Post-Colonial World, edited by Feroza Jussawalla and Reed Way Dasenbrock, pp. 286-306. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 1992.

In the following interview, Cisneros discusses her cultural identity, her personal and family history, her literary influences, and feminism.

Chicano literature, like many other new literatures in English, had a defining moment and generation in which several major talents suddenly emerged. The moment was the early 1970s, when in quick succession Tomás Rivera's y no se lo tragó la tierra, Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima, and Rolando Hinojosa's Estampas del valle were published. Rivera's career was tragically cut short by his death in 1984, but Anaya and Hinojosa have continued their careers, compiling the two most substantial bodies of work in Chicano literature.

The 1980s, in contrast, saw the emergence of Chicana...