Sandra Benitez
Selected Bibliography
A Place Where the Sea Remembers (1993)
Bitter Grounds (1997)
The Weight of All Things (2000)
Night of the Radishes (2003)
Bag Lady: A Memoir (2005)
Sandra Benitez (March 26, 1941-) attended high school and college in Missouri. She earned her bachelor’s degree in education and then a master’s degree in comparative literature from Northeast Missouri State University. In 1979, Benitez left her job translating management training manuals and enrolled in a creative writing course. Born Sandy Ables, Benitez decided to return to her Latin American roots, changing her name to Sandra and adopting her mother’s maiden name, Benitez. Though Benitez’s early writing attempts received negative criticism, she continued writing until she achieved success.
Benitez has written four novels and one memoir, Bag Lady, discussing her experience with ulcerative colitis. Her novels often revolve around Latin American themes and family. She won a Minnesota Fiction Award in 1994 for her book A Place Where the Sea Remembers, and she won an American Book Award in 1998 for Bitter Grounds. In 2004, Benitez won the National Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature, and she received one of the first United States Artists Awards, being named a USA Gund Fellow in 2006.
More information on Sandra Benitez from the Minnesota Historical Society.