Red Emma’s

“In this gritty and entertaining novel, Ana Castillo paints a captivating portrait of a future that defies odds, questions stereotypes, and always maintains a sense of humor.“

—Elena Poniatowka, author of Massacre in Mexico

“Cheeky, amoral, and a gritty survivor, Palma Piedras is a picaresque heroine for the 21st century. With an unflinching satirical flare, Castillo creates a vivid cast of rogues and helpless characters who alarmingly resemble people we know.”

—Jaime Manrique, author of Cervantes Street

“In Ana Castillo’s edgy new novel Give It to Me, no-holds barred Palma Piedras, ‘lone satellite orbiting in space,’ crash-lands on everybody’s heart. Palma’s escapades—erotic, sexy, comic and, by the end, devastating and poignant—illustrate how those who fling themselves onto love and desire are the same people who, at one time or another, must flee from it. An evocative page-turner.“

—Rigoberto González, author of Butterfly Boy, Memories of a Chicano Mariposa

Ana Castillo (June 15, 1953-) is a celebrated poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist, editor, playwright, translator and independent scholar. Castillo was born and raised in Chicago. She has contributed to periodicals and on-line venues (Salon and Oxygen) and national magazines, includingMore and the Sunday New York Times. Castillo’s writings have been the subject of numerous scholarly investigations and publications. Among her award winning, best sellling titles: novels include So Far From God, The Guardians and Peel My Love like an Onion, among other poetry: I Ask the Impossible. Her novel, Sapogonia was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She has been profiled and interviewed on National Public Radio and the History Channel and was a radio-essayist with NPR in Chicago. Ana Castillo is editor of La Tolteca, an arts and literary ‘zine dedicated to the advancement of a world without borders and censorship and on the advisory board of the new American Writers Museum in D.C. Castillo held the first Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Endowed Chair at DePaul University, The Martin Luther King, Jr Distinguished Visiting Scholar post at M.I.T. and was the Poet-in-Residence at Westminster College in Utah in 2012, among other teaching posts throughout her extensive career. Ana Castillo holds an M.A from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D., University of Bremen, Germany and an honorary doctorate from Colby College. She received an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation for her first novel, The Mixquiahuala Letters. Her other awards include a Carl Sandburg Award, a Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in fiction and poetry. She was also awarded a 1998 Sor Juana Achievement Award by the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Chicago. Dr. Castillo’s So Far From God and Loverboys are two titles on the banned book list controversy with the TUSD in Arizona. 2013 Recipient of the American Studies Association Gloria Anzaldúa Prize to an independent scholar. Dr. Castillo will hold the Lund-Gil Endowed Chair at Dominican University (IL) in 2014.