Elaine Castillo (born 1984[1]) is a Filipino-American writer. She was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended University of California, Berkeley. In 2009, Castillo moved to London and later received a MA in Creative & Life Writing from Goldsmiths, University of London.[2][3] She was a three-time recipient of the Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prize for prose while at UC Berkeley, and she has also been nominated for the Pat Kavanagh Award, a Pushcart Prize, and a Gatewood Prize.[2][4][5]
Elaine Castillo | |
|---|---|
 Castillo at the 2018 Texas Book Festival | |
| Born | 1984 (age 39–40) Milpitas, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley Goldsmiths, University of London (MA) |
| Notable works | America Is Not the Heart (2018) |
Her first novel, America Is Not the Heart, was published in 2018 and received widespread acclaim. Ligaya Mishan, writing for the New York Times Book Review, describes the novel as "hungrily ambitious in sweep and documentary in detail, and reads like a seismograph of the aftershocks from trading one life for another".[6] Maris Kreizman, wrote in Vulture that "the writing in America Is Not the Heart is tremendous, the descriptions evocative, and the characters will stay with you".[7] Parts of the book take place in Milpitas, California, where Castillo grew up. The title of the novel is a reference to Carlos Bulosan's novel America Is in the Heart. Castillo is openly bisexual and has said it was important for her to write about bisexual women in her novel because of how rarely they are depicted.[3] She is also of Filipino descent.
Works
edit- America Is Not the Heart. Viking, 2018. Novel. ISBN 978-0735222410
- How to Read Now: Essays. 2022. ISBN 978-0593489635
References
edit- ^ "Elaine Castillo | Center for Art and Thought". www.centerforartandthought.org. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
- ^ a b Singson, Blooey. "Millennial Fil-am writer Elaine Castillo releases debut novel". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
- ^ a b Majeed, Yasmin Adele (April 25, 2018). "A Little Bit Like Worship: An Interview with Elaine Castillo". Asian American Writers' Workshop. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
- ^ "Prizes and Honors / Roselyn Schneider Eisner Prizes in Poetry and Prose". Financial Aid and Scholarships | UC Berkeley. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
- ^ "SWITCHBACK BLOG: Gatewood Prize Results". SWITCHBACK BLOG. January 3, 2012. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
- ^ Mishan, Ligaya (May 2, 2018). "A Debut Novel Traces the Filipino Experience in the United States". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
- ^ Kreizman, Maris (March 15, 2018). "10 Books We Can't Wait to Read This Spring". Vulture. Retrieved May 27, 2018.