Esmeralda Santiago facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Esmeralda Santiago
Santiago at the 2023 Texas Book Festival.
Born	(1948-05-17)May 17, 1948 San Juan, Puerto Rico
Occupation	writer, actress
Nationality	Puerto Rican
Alma mater	Sarah Lawrence College, Harvard University
Notable works	When I Was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman, The Turkish Lover, Conquistadora
Spouse	Frank Cantor
Children	Lucas Cantor
Signature

Esmeralda Santiago (born May 17, 1948) is a Puerto Rican author. She is famous for writing true stories about her life. Her books often explore what it's like to be a Latina in the United States. She also writes about fitting into new cultures.

About Esmeralda Santiago
- Her Journey to Read and Write Again
Esmeralda Santiago's Books
Her Impact on Literature
See also

About Esmeralda Santiago

Esmeralda Santiago was born on May 17, 1948. This was in the Macún neighborhood of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. She was the oldest of eleven children. Her mother raised her mostly, and her father helped too. Her family lived in the countryside and came from poor farmers.

In 1961, when she was 13, Esmeralda moved to the United States. She went to junior high school in Brooklyn. She learned English in just two years. Later, she attended New York City's famous Performing Arts High School.

After high school, Santiago went to community college. She worked different jobs for eight years. Then, she earned a full scholarship to Harvard. She graduated from Harvard in 1976 with high honors. She continued her studies at Sarah Lawrence College. There, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1992.

Santiago met and married Frank Cantor before she graduated. Together, they started Cantomedia. This is a company that makes films and media. Their company has won many awards for its documentaries. Today, Santiago lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband.

Her Journey to Read and Write Again

In 2008, Santiago had a health challenge. She noticed that a story she wrote looked like a foreign language. She thought she might have had a stroke. Doctors confirmed her suspicions after tests.

The stroke affected the part of her brain that helps with reading and writing. This meant she could not read or write in Spanish or English. Spanish is her native language. Santiago had to relearn how to read and write English. It was like when she first learned it at age 13. Children's books with pictures helped her connect words to images. This taught her brain to read again.

Today, her reading and writing skills are still partly recovering. When she had the stroke, her novel, Conquistadora, was not finished. Her main goal was to finish it. She improved enough to complete her novel. However, she could not translate it into Spanish herself. Santiago still writes today. She can write about 300 words per day now. Before the stroke, she could write 1000 words a day. Her story of recovery has been featured in medical magazines. She is a case study for strokes and how people recover from them.

Esmeralda Santiago's Books

Esmeralda Santiago writes many important books. Her stories often share her own experiences. They help readers understand different cultures.

When I Was Puerto Rican

When I Was Puerto Rican was published in 1993. It tells the story of Santiago's childhood. The book covers her life from when she was very young until she left Puerto Rico at age 13. She describes growing up with American ideas that sometimes clashed with her Puerto Rican culture. The book highlights family, food, and growing up.

After graduating from Harvard, Santiago returned to Puerto Rico to work. She felt a cultural disconnect. Many Puerto Ricans thought she was too Americanized. At the same time, Americans sometimes treated her differently because she was Puerto Rican. It was also hard for her to find a job, like other educated women in Puerto Rico.

Santiago decided to return to the United States. She started publishing short essays and stories. An editor in the United States encouraged her to write When I Was Puerto Rican. Santiago's writing shows a unique view. It is from someone who has experienced both Puerto Rican and American cultures.

Santiago says she writes for women. She wants to show the lives of women. She aims to highlight traditional male-dominated ways in Puerto Rican culture. This is true both in the United States and in Puerto Rico. In When I Was Puerto Rican, Santiago shares her own experiences with sexism. She wants to help other women who have faced similar treatment.

Almost a Woman

Almost a Woman was published in 1998. It continues Santiago's story from When I Was Puerto Rican. This book follows her through her teenage years in the United States. The main character, Negi, faces identity challenges as she grows up. She also learns to fit into a new culture after moving from Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, New York.

Negi has to decide how she wants her family and society to see her. She must define how much of her identity is Puerto Rican and how much is American. Learning English is her first step. Once she can speak English, her cultural identity becomes more flexible.

Santiago shows the struggles of Puerto Rican women in the United States. They often battle with their cultural identities. In one scene, Negi performs in a play. She celebrates with her American castmates. She sees her parents far away and notices their cultural differences. She also sees the differences between herself and her castmates.

Like many children of immigrants, Negi feels like she is in-between. She is not fully Puerto Rican to her family. She is not fully American to her classmates. This "in-between" space shows her acculturation. She embodies both cultures, yet neither fully. While this feeling is common for immigrants, there are not many books about it. Santiago creates a new path for daughters of Puerto Rican immigrants. She recognizes and shares the difficulty of fitting into a new culture.

The Turkish Lover

The Turkish Lover, published in 2004, tells the story of Santiago's relationship with a Turkish filmmaker. The book continues from where Almost a Woman ends. Negi leaves her mother's home to be with this filmmaker. He calls her "Chiquita." Through his control, Chiquita slowly loses parts of her Puerto Rican identity. By the end of their eight-year relationship, she no longer recognizes modern Puerto Rican pop culture.

She starts attending Harvard. There, she begins to discuss political topics, including issues about Puerto Rico. Chiquita then travels back to Puerto Rico. She is shocked by the destruction of its natural beauty. Fast-food chains and big stores have replaced it. The feeling of being separate from Puerto Rico becomes clear.

In this book, the story shifts from third-person to first-person. Santiago claims the main character as herself for the first time in her memoirs. She describes the feeling of truly becoming herself and feeling secure in her identity. By claiming herself, she also breaks free from the relationship. She graduates from Harvard with high honors.

The Turkish Lover is unique because Santiago becomes the main character. The main character also has different names throughout the book. This final memoir shows her journey to reclaim her identity. It documents the challenges of her acculturation and her difficult relationship. In the end, the main character, 'Santiago,' is the same person writing the book. This shows her personal growth and how she defined herself.

Conquistadora

Conquistadora is a novel published in 2011. It follows a character named Ana. Ana battles unfair societal expectations about gender, class, and race. This story takes place in 19th-century Puerto Rico. Ana arrives in Puerto Rico at age 18. She is looking for power and money. Instead, she faces the harsh realities of slavery on her sugar plantation. She must navigate a society where good and bad things exist together.

When writing Conquistadora, Santiago did a lot of research on Puerto Rican history. Puerto Rican records and books often did not include stories of women, poor people, or enslaved people. Santiago came from a poor, rural family. She did not have records of her family's history. So, Conquistadora is an imagined example of what her history could have been.

Like other Latino writers of her time, Santiago's writing helps her discover her cultural identity. This is clear in her exploration of her family's past. Santiago also discusses the terrible impact of slavery on the people of Puerto Rico. This topic is often overlooked in popular books. Some people thought slavery in Puerto Rico was less severe than in other places.

Other Works

A Doll for Navidades is a children's book by Santiago. It describes her childhood Christmas traditions. It includes her writing to the Three Magi to ask for a doll for Christmas. This book is for children. Like her other works, it helps people learn more about Puerto Rican culture and experiences.
America's Dream, published in 1997, shows a Puerto Rican woman's first experiences in the United States. It also explores her difficult relationship with her daughter.
Las Christmas is a collection of holiday stories by twenty-five Latino authors. Santiago edited this book.
Las Mamis: Favorite Latino Authors Remember Their Mothers is a collection of stories about authors' mothers. Santiago also edited this book.
She wrote screenplays for Beverly Hills Supper Club and Button, Button.
Santiago has contributed to other book collections. These include Home: American Writers Remember Rooms of Their Own and Perspectivas Sobre Puerto Rico en Homenaje a Muñoz Rivera y Muñoz Marín, Fundacíón Luis Muñoz Marín.
Las Madres is a powerful book. It shows the difficult hours and days after a storm. Its stories focus on battling against forgetting.

Her Impact on Literature

Santiago creates feminist literature that is for women. She helps create more stories about the Latino experience from a woman's point of view. Autobiographies by women were often ignored until the late 1980s. This means there were not many books to inspire Santiago's work.

She uses an autobiography or memoir style. This allows her to discuss women's roles in society. She also writes about having two cultures (biculturalism) and speaking two languages (bilingualism). She shares these topics from her own personal experience. This makes her work very powerful for readers.

Santiago was one of the first to write in this way. She helped open the door for exploring Puerto Rican and Latino identities in popular books. Her writing helps young Latine women and youth feel understood. It helps them on their journeys to find their cultural identity.