Joy Castro is the author of a memoir, two literary crime novels, a collection of essays, and the short fiction collection How Winter Began (University of Nebraska, 2015). She is the Willa Cather Professor of English and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska, where she teaches literature, creative writing, and Latinx studies. Her work has appeared in such venues as Senses of Cinema, Salon, Fourth Genre, Seneca Review, and The New York Times Magazine.