Allen Ginsberg interview file and correspondence with Jan Castro

1973-2023 [bulk 1973-1986]

Jan Garden Castro (born 1945) is an art and literary critic, poet, and educator from Saint Louis, Missouri. Castro attended both Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison for her undergraduate education, earning her degree in 1967. Castro later earned both a Master of Arts in Teaching and English (in 1974) and a Master of Arts in Art History and Comparative Literature (in 1994), both from Washington University in Saint Louis.

In 1968, while living in San Francisco, Castro began her career by writing feature articles on writers and musicians, publishing these in The Daily Californian and the San Francisco Express Times. She returned to Saint Louis in 1970 and married poet and educator Michael Castro (1945-2018) in 1972. In 1975, Castro self-published her first poetry collection, Mandala of the Five Senses. She began her teaching career in 1980, starting as an adjunct humanities professor at Lindenwood College (now University). In 1985, Castro published her first major work, The Art and Life of Georgia O'Keeffe. In 1988, she published a collection of essays on Margaret Atwood, titled Margaret Atwood, Vision and Forms. From them on she continued to publish reviews and essays, write poetry, and teach and organize artistic events in the Saint Louis area.

In 1975, Castro and her husband co-founded the literary and visual arts magazine River Styx, which is still in operation as of 2024. In 1982, River Styx published an interview with the poet Allen Ginsberg, conducted by Jan Castro on April 5th of that year.