Elvira Cordero Cisneros Award




Elvira Cordero Cisneros and Sandra Cisneros
Photo by Diana Solis


Elvira Cordero Cisneros Award Recipients in 2009

The Macondo Foundation is pleased to announce that the recipients of the 2009 Elvira Cordero Cisneros Award are Dennis Mathis, Denise Chávez, Linda Rodriguez, Tony Diaz and Gayle Elliott.

The Macondo Foundation recently established the award to honor the memory of Sandra Cisneros’ mother, Elvira Cordero Cisneros (1929-2007). Recipients are selected for exhibiting exceptional talent, a profound commitment to their chosen form of expression, and dedication to the work of nurturing the creativity of others. It is the foundation’s hope that recipients will make use of the award to nurture their own creativity and wellbeing.

Dennis Mathis
Mr. Mathis earned an M.F.A. in 1978 from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, where he studied under Frank Conroy and Ian McEwan and was an assistant to the Workshop's legendary former director, Paul Engle. In the 1980s, Dennis' fiction earned a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a residency at Yaddo, and two fellowships to the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. In 1984 he joined FAWC's staff and managed its writing program for two years. Then his destiny led in another direction. He chose to set aside a literary life that had rewarded him with many exceptional friendships and experiences, and he began a twenty-year career in corporate communications technology. In recent years, he has returned to his early love for the art (and mystery) of literature and publishing. He currently works as a consulting editor and has a special interest in working with writers at the earliest stages of their careers. He is also writing his first book.

Denise Chávez
A true child of La Frontera, Chávez is the author of A Taco Testimony: Meditations on Family, Food and Culture, novels Loving Pedro Infante, Face of An Angel and a short story collection,The Last of the Menu Girls. Currently Chávez is working on a novel, The King and Queen of Comezón, as well as a collection of stories, El Inglés Tan Bonito. She is the Director of The Border Book Festival, a major national and regional book festival in Mesilla, NM. She is thankful for this award which celebrates the life and work of Elvira Cordero Cisneros, a woman she knew and admired.

Linda Rodriguez
Linda Rodriguez is the author of a chapbook, Skin Hunger (Potpourri Publications 1995, Scapegoat Press, 2007) and a full-length collection, Heart’s Migration (Tia Chucha Press, 2009). Her work has appeared in numerous journals, as well as in several anthologies, most recently Primera Página: Poetry From the Latino Heartland (Scapegoat Press, 2008), The Red and the Black: An Anthology of Profit and Loss (Helicon Nine Editions, forthcoming) and Imagination and Place: An Anthology (Imagination and Place Press, forthcoming). A former director of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Women’s Center and a co-convenor of the Women & Environment Caucus at the United Nations international conference, Women 2000: Beijing Plus Five, she is the vice-president of the Latino Writers Collective, founder/coordinator of the Kansas City Women Writers Reading Series, and a founding board member of The Writers Place.

Tony Diaz
Novelist Tony Diaz is the author of THE AZTEC LOVE GOD. He is included in the anthology HECHO EN TEJAS. Originally from Chicago, he moved to Texas to earn and MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston Creative Program. In 1998, he founded Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting Latino literature and literacy. Nuestra Palabra organizes workshops for teachers and students as well as readings for Literary Icons and new voices. The Nuestra Palabra radio show broadcasts weekly at 100,000 watts on 90.1 FM, KPFT. They are about to launch their multi-media super site: www.nuestrapalabra.org NP has organized the largest literary events in Houston, and has introduced the work of our our most beloved writers to thousands.

Gayle Elliott


Sandra Cisneros has written, “We wanted to give it to someone who is too busy nurturing others to nurture herself. My mother was a deeply creative, but frustrated artist, and I don’t want to see others live their lives with regrets for what they didn’t do.”

The Macondo Foundation does not accept applications, individual solicitations or nominations for the Elvira Cordero Cisneros Award. Previous recipients include San Antonio author Rosemary Catacalos