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Homage to Akilah January 30, 2021 – Posted in: Blog

We are not the women who’ll be hailed by White institutions for our poems.  We are among the mothers whose hearts, laid heavy with history and tradition left to dark skinned women for 500 years did our best. 

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Short stories to come next January 29, 2021 – Posted in: Blog

(I’m currently using the working title, FALLEN STARS.)

I’m blessed to still be safe, with a roof over my head and food to eat but as a poet and writer, communicator, speaker, political commentator and independent thinker–it was critical to find my way out of that dark place of a world pandemic and in the U.S., an aspiring dictator in office. 

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Nat’l Poetry Month: ‘These Times’ April 2, 2020 – Posted in: Blog

In recognition of National Poetry here is a poem I written in 2018 in commemoration of the first African American woman president at my alma mater in Chicago, NEIU.  I had the distinct honor to read it at her inauguration ceremony.  Enjoy! These Times   I   In these times, you and I share, amidst the air you and I breathe, inspiration we take from day to day thriving, opposition we meet, the sacred conch…

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La Comunidad–To limpia or not to limpia? March 20, 2020 – Posted in: Blog, recent

We are entering Spring Equinox.  The world is on alert and populations are challenged as never before. As a Chicana/mexicana-indigena I grew up and have always had limpias as part of our lives.  We do all kinds of limpias–sweeping with a huevo, usamos hierbas y aquas preparadas, baños. Friday is a good day for a limpia. You don’t have to find a curandera, santera, or modern bruxa/os.  If you’d like a recommendation on how to…

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Spain residence, Spring, 2020 December 1, 2019 – Posted in: Blog, recent

  I will be in Spain this year accepting a residency.It will be brief and near Madrid.  If you teach my work or on a related theme (Feminist Studies, gender, Latin/Latino lit, Chicana, Xicanx, etc.) in Spain and would like to contact me when I am in the country, email please at ana@anacastillo.net. Será breve y cerca de Madrid.  Si a caso eres profesor y trabajas con los temas de mis libros y quieres comunicarte…

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To Write, Read…A Lot August 24, 2019 – Posted in: Blog

Besides re-reading Naula O’Fallain’s two memoirs, I delved into other books. One was by my bedside for a while: And, I did a review of two books for the Women’s Review of Books by an Argentine writer, Silvina Ocampo. I have another book at the ready, which I read, re-read, at my bedside to read again and recommend. Sometimes new writers think they are being transgressive and breaking new ground on the subject of gender,…

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