2006 Independent Publisher Book Award for Story Teller of the Year
In this updated edition of Ana Castillo s celebrated novel in verse, featuring a new introduction by Poet Laureate of Texas Carmen Tafolla, we revisit the story s spirited heroine, known only as Ella or She, as she takes us through her own epic journey of self-actualization as an artist and a woman. With a remarkable combination of tenderness, lyricism, wicked humor, and biting satire, Castillo dramatizes Ella s struggle through poverty as a Chicano single mother at the threshold of the twenty-first...

Named the first-ever Poet Laureate of San Antonio in 2012, Carmen Tafolla was named Poet Laureate of Texas in 2015. This collection displays her mastery of the art of bilingual code switching, mining the riches of two languages - Spanish and English - to produce works that celebrate the beauty and vigor of a Hispanic heritage that has enriched American culture for generations.