Ana Castillo is a prolific and celebrated author of novels, poetry, short stories, and essays on gender and sexuality, feminism, and Chicanx experiences. Born and raised in Chicago, Castillo's works include The Mixquiahuala Letters (1986), So Far from God (1993), Massacre of the Dreamers, Loverboys (1996), and black dove: mamá, mi'jo, and me (2016) among others. Castillo is the recipient of several awards including the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation, the International Latino Book Award, and the Lambda Award. In this interview, Liliana C. Gonzalez and Stacy I. Macias discuss Castillo's reflections on the political and cultural moment in which Chicana Lesbians: The Girls Our Mothers Warned Us About was published. Macias and Gonzalez also explore Castillo's encounters with the problematics of identity politics and consider Castillo's evolution as an activist and creative writer.
Keywords: Chicana futurity; Chicana literature; LGBTQI + identity politics; Latina sexuality.