Elaine Castillo, named one of “30 of the Planet’s Most Exciting Young People” by the Financial Times, was born and raised in the Bay Area. Her most recent novel Moderation is currently longlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize in Fiction, and was named one of the Top Ten Books of 2025 by The Atlantic, Slate, and a Best Book of 2025 by The New Yorker, TIME, Kirkus Reviews, and more. Her debut novel, America Is Not the Heart (2018), was a finalist for numerous prizes including the Elle Big Book Award, the Center for Fiction Prize, and the Aspen Words Literary Prize and was named a best book of 2018 by NPR, Real Simple, Lit Hub, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Post, Kirkus Reviews, and the New York Public Library. She is also the author of the acclaimed collection of essays How to Read Now (2022), the longform essay Good Girl: Notes on Dog Rescue (2024). She is a two-time San Francisco Public Library Laureate,  a Berkeley Public Library Laureate, and is currently longlisted for the 2026 Joyce Carol Oates Prize, in recognition of writers of national consequence.

In the tradition of diasporic mothers everywhere, she works primarily so her rescue German shepherd Vincent can live a better life.