Ana Castillo

Infobox writer
name = Ana Castillo

---

imagesize =
caption = Ana Castillo
pseudonym =
birthname =
birthdate = 1953
birthplace =
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = novelist, poet, essayist, short story writer
nationality = USA
period =
genre =
subject =
movement = Xicanisma
notableworks = "So Far from God", "Massacre of the Dreamers"
spouse =
partner =
children =
relatives =
influences =
influenced =
awards =


website =

Ana Castillo (born 1953) is a Chicana novelist, poet, short story writer, and essayist.

Life and career

Castillo was born and raised in an inner city barrio of Chicago, Illinois. After completing undergraduate studies, she immediately began teaching college courses. She earned her Master's degree in Latin American and Caribbean studies from the University of Chicago with a thesis entitled "The Idealization and Reality of the Mexican Indian Woman". She received her doctorate from the University of Bremen, Germany, in American studies in 1991. In lieu of a traditional dissertation, she submitted the essays later collected in her highly acclaimed work "Massacre of the Dreamers".

Castillo writes about Chicana feminism, which she dubs "Xicanisma", and her work centers on issues of identity, racism, and classism. Many of her protagonists are fiercely independent, sometimes lesbian, women. Her "imaginative fiction" shows the influence of magical realism. For example, the novel "Sapogonia" is about a fictional country that is the home to all mestizos. Much of her work has been translated into Spanish. She has also contributed articles and essays to such publications as the "Los Angeles Times" and "Salon".

Her papers are housed at the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Publications

Novels

*"The Mixquiahuala Letters". Binghamton, N.Y. : Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingue, 1986. ISBN 0-916950-67-0
*"". Tempe, Arizona: Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe, 1990. ISBN 0-916950-95-6
*"So Far From God". New York: W.W. Norton, 1993. ISBN 0-393-03490-9
*"Peel My Love Like an Onion". New York : Doubleday, 1999. ISBN 0-385-49676-1
*"". New York: Dutton Books, 2000. ISBN 0-525-45856-5
*"". Willimantic, Connecticut: Curbstone Press, 2005. auto isbn|1|9|3|1|8|9|6|2|0|1-931896-20
*"The Guardians". New York: Random House, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4000-6500-4

tory collections

*"Loverboys". New York: W.W. Norton, 1996. ISBN 0-393-03959-5

Poetry

*"Otro Canto". Chicago: Alternativa Publications, 1977.
*"The Invitation". 1979
*"Women Are Not Roses". Houston: Arte Público Press, 1984. ISBN 0-934770-28-X
*"My Father Was a Toltec and selected poems, 1973-1988". New York: Norton, 1995. ISBN 0-393-03718-5
*"I Ask the Impossible". New York: Anchor Books, 2000. ISBN 0-385-72073-4

Non-fiction

*"Massacre of the Dreamers: Essays on Xicanisma". Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8263-1554-2

Translations

*"Esta Puente, Mi Espalda: Voces de Mujeres Tercermundistas en los Estados Unidos" (with Norma Alarcón). San Francisco: Ism Press, 1988. (Spanish adaptation of "This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color", edited by Cherríe Moraga.)

As editor

*"The Sexuality of Latinas" (co-editor, with Norma Alarcón and Cherríe Moraga). Berkeley: Third Woman Press, 1993. ISBN 0-943219-00-0
*"Goddess of the Americas: Writings on the Virgin of Guadalupe" / "La Diosa de las Américas: Escritos Sobre la Virgen de Guadalupe" (editor). New York: Riverhead Books, 1996. ISBN 1-57322-029-9

See also

*List of Mexican American writers

Critical studies since 2000 (English only)

as of March 2008:

Journal articles

#Castillo's 'Burra, Me', 'La Burra Mistakes Friendship with a Lashing', and 'The Friend Comes Back to Teach the Burra' By: Ruiz-Velasco, Chris; "Explicator", 2007 Winter; 65 (2): 121-24.
#'The Pleas of the Desperate': Collective Agency versus "Magical Realism" in Ana Castillo's "So Far From God" By: Caminero-Santangelo, Marta; "Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature," 2005 Spring; 24 (1): 81-103.
#Violence in the Borderlands: Crossing the Home Space in the Novels of Ana Castillo By: Johnson, Kelli Lyon; "Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies," 2004; 25 (1): 39-58.
#Literary Syncretism in Ana Castillo's "So Far From God" By: Alarcón, Daniel Cooper; "Studies in Latin American Popular Culture," 2004; 23: 145-52.
#The Second Tower of Babel: Ana Castillo's Borgesian Precursors in "The Mixquiahuala Letters" By: Jirón-King, Shimberlee; Philological Quarterly, 2003 Fall; 82 (4): 419-40.
#Creating a Resistant Chicana Aesthetic: The Queer Performativity of Ana Castillo's "So Far from God" By: Mills, Fiona; CLA Journal, 2003 Mar; 46 (3): 312-36.
#The Homoerotic Tease and Lesbian Identity in Ana Castillo's Work By: Gómez-Vega, Ibis; "Crítica Hispánica," 2003; 25 (1-2): 65-84.
#Ana Castillo's "So Far from God:" Intimations of the Absurd By: Manríquez, B. J.; "College Literature," 2002 Spring; 29 (2): 37-49.
#Hybrid Latina Identities: Critical Positioning In-Between Two Cultures By: Mujcinovic, Fatima; "Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños," 2001 Spring; 13 (1): 45-59.
#Con un pie a cada lado'/With a Foot in Each Place: Mestizaje as Transnational Feminisms in Ana Castillo's "So Far from God" By: Gillman, Laura; "Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism," 2001; 2 (1): 158-75.
#La Llorona and a Call for Environmental Justice in the Borderlands: Ana Castillo's "So Far from God" By: Cook, Barbara J.; "Northwest Review," 2001; 39 (2): 124-33.
#Chicana/o Fiction from Resistance to Contestation: The Role of Creation in Ana Castillo's "So Far from God" By: Rodriguez, Ralph E.; "MELUS", 2000 Summer; 25 (2): 63-82.
#Rebellion and Tradition in Ana Castillo's "So Far from God" and Sylvia López-Medina's "Cantora" By: Sirias, Silvio; "MELUS", 2000 Summer; 25 (2): 83-100.
#Gritos desde la Frontera: Ana Castillo, Sandra Cisneros, and Postmodernism By: Mermann-Jozwiak, Elisabeth; "MELUS", 2000 Summer; 25 (2): 101-18.
#Chicana Feminist Narratives and the Politics of the Self By: Elenes, C. Alejandra; "Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies," 2000; 21 (3): 105-23.
#'Saint-Making' in Ana Castillo's "So Far from God": Medieval Mysticism as Precedent for an Authoritative Chicana Spirituality By: Sauer, Michelle M.; Mester, 2000; 29: 72-91.

Book articles/chapters

#Determined to Indeterminacy: Pan-American and European Dimensions of the Mestizaje Concept in Ana Castillo's "Sapogonia" By: Köhler, Angelika. IN: Bottalico and Moncef bin Khalifa, "Borderline Identities in Chicano Culture." Venice, Italy: Mazzanti; 2006. pp. 101-14
#Ana Castillo (1953-) By: Castillo, Debra A.. IN: West-Durán, Herrera-Sobek and Salgado, "Latino and Latina Writers, I: Introductory Essays, Chicano and Chicana Authors; II: Cuban and Cuban American Authors, Dominican and Other Authors, Puerto Rican Authors." New York, NY: Scribner's; 2004. pp. 173-93
#The Spirit of a People: The Politicization of Spirituality in Julia Alvarez's "In the Time of the Butterflies", Ntozake Shange's "sassafrass, cypress & indigo", and Ana Castillo's "So Far from God" By: Blackford, Holly. IN: Groover, "Things of the Spirit: Women Writers Constructing Spirituality." Notre Dame, IN: U of Notre Dame P; 2004. pp. 224-55
#'A Question of Faith': An Interview with Ana Castillo By: Kracht, Katharine. IN: Alonso Gallo, "Voces de América/American Voices: Entrevistas a escritores americanos/Interviews with American Writers." Cádiz, Spain: Aduana Vieja; 2004. pp. 623-38
#A Chicana Hagiography for the Twenty-first Century By: Alcalá, Rita Cano. IN: Gaspar de Alba, "Velvet Barrios: Popular Culture & Chicana/o Sexualities." New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan; 2003. pp. 3-15
#Ana Castillo as Santera: Reconstructing Popular Religious Praxis By: Pérez, Gail. IN: Pilar Aquino, Machado and Rodríguez, "A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice." Austin, TX: U of Texas P; 2002. pp. 53-79
#A Two-Headed Freak and a Bad Wife Search for Home: Border Crossing in "Nisei Daughter" and "The Mixquiahuala Letters" By: Cooper, Janet. IN: Benito and Manzanas, "Literature and Ethnicity in the Cultural Borderlands." Amsterdam, Netherlands: Rodopi; 2002. pp. 159-73

Books

#"New Visions of Community in Contemporary American Fiction: Tan, Kingsolver, Castillo, Morrison" By: Michael, Magali Cornier. Iowa City: U of Iowa P; 2006.
#"Exploding the Western: Myths of Empire on the Postmodern Frontier" By: Spurgeon, Sara L.. College Station, TX: Texas A&M UP; 2005.
#"Ana Castillo" By: Spurgeon, Sara L.. Boise: Boise State U; 2004.

External links

* [http://www.anacastillo.com Official site]
* [http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/castillo_ana.html Voices from the Gaps biography]
* [http://cemaweb.library.ucsb.edu/castillo_toc.html Guide to the Ana Castillo papers] at the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives