SEPTEMBER 1 –
NOVEMBER 30, 2025
The National Endowment for the Arts’ Big Read broadens our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a great book – and Miami Book Fair is again marking this unique literary happening with two months of events, centered around our title pick, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.
Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street is an internationally beloved coming-of-age novel which invites us to reflect on the spaces we come from – and the ones we create – as we navigate hope, courage, and connection.
In a small Chicago neighborhood, Esperanza Cordero, a 12-year-old Mexican American girl, is growing up in a world full of contradictions. Her community is alive with beauty and resilience, but it is also marked by poverty, limitation, and the rigid expectations placed on young women. Esperanza longs for something more – a life beyond her rundown street and the low hopes the world seems to have for her.
Told in a series of eloquent and hauntingly brief vignettes, The House on Mango Street captures a year in Esperanza’s life as she begins to understand how her surroundings shape her, and how she can begin to shape herself. She witnesses the quiet suffering of women, the pull of the streets, and the weight of family and culture, yet she also discovers strength, joy, and her own voice. Determined to break free from the limitations around her, Esperanza learns to invent herself anew and imagines a future where she truly belongs to herself.
Since its publication in 1984, The House on Mango Street has become a national bestseller, a cornerstone of contemporary American literature, and a classic of the coming-of-age genre. Acclaimed by critics, adored by readers of all ages, and taught in schools and universities, it has been translated into more than 25 languages and embraced by generations for its profound humanity, lyricism, and truth. In 2025, Cisneros was honored with the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Critics Circle, recognizing the enduring impact of her work.
SANDRA CISNEROS
SANDRA CISNEROS is an internationally acclaimed poet, novelist, and essayist whose work explores themes of identity, belonging, and cultural heritage. She is the author of The House On Mango Street, Caramelo, the short story collection Woman Hollering Creek, the memoir A House of My Own, and several poetry collections and children’s books. Her many honors include NEA fellowships in both poetry and fiction, a MacArthur Fellowship, the National Medal of Arts, and the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. A dual citizen of the United States and Mexico, Cisneros lives in San Miguel de Allende, where she continues to write and mentor emerging writers through the Macondo and Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation, which she established in 1999.
Event Highlights
Check back often as we add readings, workshops, and community events across Miami-Dade County!
