Born in Mexico City and currently a US resident, María Amparo Escandón
is a best-selling bilingual novelist, short story writer, screenwriter,
and film producer. Her award-winning work has been recognized for
addressing bi-cultural themes such as the immigration experience of
Mexicans who venture into the United States. Her stories focus on
family relationships, loss, forgiveness, faith, and self-discovery.
Her innovative style of multiple voice narrations and her cleverly
humorous, quirky, compassionate stories with a feminine angle, capture
magical reality in everyday life, placing her among the top
contemporary Latin American female writers. Her work has been
translated into over 21 languages and is currently read in more than 85
countries.
Living in California, Escandón began viewing her culture of origin from
a distance, allowing for a deeper analysis of ingrained traditions such
as Mexicans' unique practice of Catholicism with Pre-Columbian
influences, women's position in society, female identity, illegal
immigration, US-Mexico relations, and government corruption... all of
which she drew upon to write both her novels and non-fiction works.
Escandón wrote her first novel, Esperanza's Box of Saints (Simon &
Schuster), and its Spanish version, Santitos (Plaza & Janés, now Random
House), in 1999. She addresses the universal fear of losing a child, a
woman's search for identity, and a journey -both geographical and
spiritual- that takes Esperanza, the protagonist, through sordid
brothels from Mexico to Los Angeles. It was the number one best seller
in the Los Angeles Times Best Sellers List. And she was named writer to
watch for 1999 by Newsweek magazine, and by the Los Angeles Times for
2000.
Her second novel, González & Daughter Trucking Co. (Three Rivers
Press), and its Spanish version, Transportes González e Hija (Vintage
Español), were published in 2005. Set in a Mexican prison and highways
of the US Southwest, it deals with women's relationships, guilt, crime,
passion, corruption and forgiveness within the context of a hybrid
border culture. Paternal possessiveness and gender double standards in
Mexican society are portrayed. This work also reflects a linguistic
reality in bi-cultural California exploring the merger of Spanish and
English vernacular (Spanglish), as well as different sub-culture
lingoes.
In addition to teaching Creative Writing at UCLA Extension, Escandón
has been an advisor at the Sundance Screenwriters Labs in Mexico and
Brazil, as well as at the Fundación Contenidos de Creación Fiction
Workshops in Barcelona, and participates as a mentor for upcoming
minority writers at the PEN Center's Emerging Voices Program. She is
also one of the founding members of Frijolywood, the official Mexican
Filmmakers' association in Hollywood.
Escandón wrote the screenplay Santitos, based on her novel Esperanza's
Box of Saints at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. The film was produced
by John Sayles and directed in Mexico by Alejandro Springall. It was
the third highest grossing Mexican film in Mexico during 1999, and
successfully released in Spain and Latin America in 2000. To date, it
has received awards in 14 film festivals worldwide, such as the Latin
Cinema Award, Sundance Film Festival; Best Film, Guadalajara Film
Festival; Best Film, Los Angeles Latino Film Festival; Best Actress,
Festival International du Film d'Amiens; Grand Jury Award, Cartagena
International Film Festival, Special Jury Award, Rencontres Cinémas de
Toulouse; and Best Opera Prima, Découverte de la Critique Française.
Escandón has recently completed the screenplay based on her novel
González & Daughter Trucking Co. The film is currently in active
development at her production company, The Other Truth Productions.
