By Jim Logan / UCSB
Jorge Luis Castillo. Courtesy photo.
For his latest book, “La Virgen de los Boleros” (Isla Negra), Jorge Luis Castillo decided to step outside his literary comfort zone. In the collection of eight short stories, the professor of Spanish and Portuguese at UC Santa Barbara used a variety of voices to tell his tales.
The effort paid off. Castillo has received the PEN Club of Puerto Rico National Award for short stories. Castillo, who was born in Cuba and raised in Puerto Rico, said the honor was unexpected but “validates what I’m doing, because in this book I try something new. I really tried to recreate different voices and different styles. I also aimed for diversity in the topics I chose.”
In one story, a girl and her father are in a California ghost town. After the girl finds some cash and gives it to her father, he disappears, perhaps for good. Old age features in two stories, and in the final story a bolero singer prepares for his final concert. In some stories the prose is minimalist and deals with the quotidian, Castillo noted. “I really focus on everyday stuff. When I don’t, I tend to be more lyrically inclined,” he said. “I painstakingly craft my prose. It took me three years to get this book done.”
Read the full article HERE