A Los Angeles native, Alessandra R. Castellanos writes poetry, fiction and memoir that draw upon her vibrant and tenacious ancestral heritage in Guatemala and California. Her conjured worlds encompass feral spirits, otherworldly legends, the Latina “tomboy" experience growing up in Los Angeles, and the disconcerting realities of domestic workers in Hollywood celebrity homes. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Offing, Northridge Review, Exposition Review, Drunken Boat, Lunch Ticket, RipRap Journal, Chaparral, Duende, and The Round among others. Castellanos is a student of the Method Writing Approach taught by Jack Grapes, The Poetry Salon led by Tresha Haefner-Rubinstein, a member of the Los Angeles Poets and Writers Collective and a graduate of California State University, Northridge. Aside from writing, Castellanos loves watching movies over and over again with her dog Nola, a rare breed of wolf-bear.

On the web:

Ladies Underwear [Northridge Review, forthcoming]

Los Angeles Wreckage [The Offing, forthcoming]

In Darkness with the Ramirez Sisters [Exposition Review, 2017]

We Flew to Guatemala When I Was Five [Riprap Journal, 2016]

Lamb, Bunny, Lamb [The Round, 2015]

Secret Eater [The Round, 2015]

Night Beat [Angel City Review, 2015]

Medusa, Loving [Angel City Review, 2015]

The Housekeeper’s Daughter [Lunch Ticket, 2015]

Seventeen [Burningword, 2015]

Tonic [Duende, 2015]

My Poem to You as Love Letter #2 [Chaparral, 2013]

El Duende and the Persimmon Tree [Prick of the Spindle, 2011]

Hello America, Hasta Luego Guatemala! 1969 [Drunken Boat, 2011]

Print Journals:

Echo Echo [I’ll Have Wednesday, 2016]

Bowling Alley Love [FRE&D, 2015]

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Los Angeles Poets and Writers Collective, Jack Grapes' Method Writing, The Poetry Salon