Baruc Elimelec Castillo, who currently works under the pseudonym Brooklyn Crane, is a published writer born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and raised in Nuevo Laredo.
Winner of the National Literary Expression Contest La Juventud Y La Mar in 2016 and gold medalist in the international GENIUS Olympiad competition in 2019, Castillo is defined by his insatiable passion for composing poetry and his relentless ambition to spread it to the world; both of which, at twenty-three years old, have completely shaped his life.
In 2022, Castillo began sharing his artwork through digital platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. In 2024, he published his first collection of poems in English, titled Traumatophobic, and shortly afterward, his first collection of poems in Spanish, titled Fugaz.
In February 2025, he founded the poetry group Verso & Sangre with the support of Elvira Cruz Osorio and Claudia Yvonne Pérez Aréchiga. In June of that year, shortly after the publication of his second collection of poems in English, titled Anarcholeptic, he founded the poetry club Court of Quills under the direction of Jorge Santana, a member of the City of Laredo Fine Arts and Culture Commission, with the dream of revitalizing literature and promoting the city’s writers.
Castillo, is known for his insatiable passion for writing poetry and his relentless ambition to communicate it throughout the world.
Anarcholeptic, which was released in June 2025 is the third of his books published since 2024. His work, which is written with cadence and rhyme, reflects Castillo’s resolution to raise awareness about the injustice faced by his generation, war, and climate change. He writes from a cynical and yet human perspective. This collection includes events across history and from recent memory, as well as fictional stories that illustrate reality, all woven together in verse.
Castillo said the two poetry clubs, Verso & Sangre in Nuevo Laredo and Court of Quills in Laredo, seek new members and more opportunities to continue engendering poetry in the heart of both cities.
