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 bicultural themes such as the immigration experience of Mexicans in the United States. Her stories focus on family relationships, loss, forgiveness, and self-discovery. Her innovative style places 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.

Escandón wrote her first novel, Esperanza's Box of Saints and its Spanish version Santitos, 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. John Sayles produced the film Santitos, based on her novel, for which she wrote the screenplay. To date, the film has received awards in 14 film festivals worldwide.

Her second novel, González & Daughter Trucking Co. and its Spanish version, Transportes González e Hija, were published in 2005. Set in a Mexican prison and highways of the US Southwest, it deals with women's relationships, corruption and forgiveness within the context of a hybrid border culture. This work also reflects a linguistic reality in bicultural California exploring the merger of Spanish and English vernacular (Spanglish), as well as different sub-culture lingoes. The film is currently in active development at Blue Engine Entertainment and at her production company, The Other Truth Productions.

For a detailed bio, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/María_Amparo_Escandón.

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