Norma Cantú, Ph.D., is a writer, poet, folklorist, and the Murchison Professor of the Humanities at Trinity University. She has been with the Macondo Writers’ Workshop since its creation by Chicana writer Sandra Cisneros. San Antonio is home to the Macondo, a five-day rigorous experience that brings like-minded writers together to create and share their works.
During Cantú’s interview with TPR, she began by saying that Cisneros wanted a different kind of Workshop—one that was intimate, fruitful, and compassionate. Cantú said Cisneros chose the name Macondo as a reference to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. She said Macondo, like the Garcia Marquez space, “is not your normal everyday happenings” and has a connection to the literary heritage of Latin America.
From July 21-27, the Macondo workshops and several free public events took place at Trinity University and TPR’s headquarters.
Listen to the entire interview on Texas Public Radio (TPR 89.1 FM).