Last year Sandra Cisneros was given the National Medal of Arts by former President Obama for her contributions to American literature and this year she will be recognized at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 40th Anniversary gala for her lifelong contributions.Embed from Getty Images
The House on Mango Street author explains that this award has special significance to her. “Some awards are more important than others, to be frank,” she says to HuffPost. “But this one I think comes at such a difficult time in the history for Latinos in the United States, so it’s of special significance.”
Cisneros is often photographed wearing traditional colorful Mexican dresses and is a self-proclaimed feminist and chingona or badass. She’s never adhered to the norm, which is what makes her stand out from the bunch. She never had children and chose her career as a writer, which she doesn’t regret one bit. “I don’t have children but that was my choice. It was a choice that I made because I felt that I’m either going to have children or I’m going to be able to write a book or if I’m going to write books and have children, I’m going to move back to Chicago. And I never wanted to do that.”
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“I’m 62 and I feel like I’m not even half way to being the chingona I want to be,” Cisneros says. “I look at women that I admire, like Maria Salinas or Elena Poniatowska—these are women who I think are extraordinary powerhouses—and I don’t feel like I have enough years on the planet to get close to what they are.” The author says she’s just getting started. “But I’m young, I feel young,” she says. “I feel like everything that I worked towards in my life has come to this point so that I can focus now on evolving myself and reaching my highest potential before I leave this planet. I’m excited because to me, at an age when most people feel like it’s the end of their lives, I feel it’s the beginning of my life.”
Cisneros is receiving the 2017 Chair Award in Washington D.C. on September 13th.