Queen’s 2026 Writer-in-Residence developed a creative new way to host insightful conversations with your partner.
Author and multidisciplinary artist Ani Castillo recently launched The Boyfriend Audit, a guide to “auditing” your romantic partner in an honest, playful way. Distributed as pamphlets at her March 18 Union Gallery event, The Boyfriend Audit transcends literary and cartoon form to engage the reader in a form of introspection that’s both creative and grounded in real-life relationship experience.
To be clear: “boyfriend” is a loose term. “I named it the Boyfriend Audit because I created this tool with all my love for my daughter,” Castillo wrote inside the pamphlet’s front page. “But please feel free to adapt the gender and language to suit you best!”
The audit includes 55 questions, some multiple choice and some short answer, prompting participants to consider their primary relationships with friends, romantic partners, and more. The pamphlet also includes “The Red Flags Bonus Audit,” pointing out signs of a potentially abusive partner, beyond the questions posed in the main text.
Questions like, “Does he inspire you to be your best?” and “Does he engage in healthy and wholesome activities by himself?” accompany Castillo’s original drawings of cute, friendly cartoon figures engaged in all kinds of relationship activities, from fishing to cuddling to piggyback rides. As I worked through the audit with my own partner, we loved debating which of each pair of figures represented us best.
Some of The Boyfriend Audit Pamphlets. PHOTO SUPPLIED BY ANI CASTILLO
The Boyfriend Audit blossomed from Castillo’s relationship with her daughter. “She wanted a boyfriend, and I said, ‘I think you should audit your boyfriend!’” Castillo said in an interview with The Journal. She gave The Boyfriend Audit to her daughter last summer and has been developing it for a wider audience for several months.
Castillo first shared versions of The Boyfriend Audit in Toronto on Sept. 5, 2025. After her Kingston event, she’s not sure how she wants to distribute it broadly but is considering printable or zine formats. Interested Queen’s students can contact Castillo to check out The Boyfriend Audit themselves.
Beyond The Boyfriend Audit, much of Castillo’s work centres on human relationships and unpacking the complexity of human emotions with the help of approachable illustrations. Her style is unique, sometimes cute, sometimes confrontational, and always evocative.
In another work, the LET’S GET UNDEPRESSED TOOLKIT, Castillo presents strategies for navigating depression and improving mental health. Similar to The Boyfriend Audit, her art serves as a guide for introspection and narrative purpose, leading the reader toward feelings of betterment, or at least considering the present.
“I honestly talk about everything,” Castillo said about her art. She started writing as a blogger and evolved her craft from there, contributing to its contemporary style and ironic sense of humour.
“Before, the internet was very free,” Castillo said. “Things started getting weird, but at the beginning, it was just a bunch of humans saying, ‘Oh my god, let’s go communicate with each other and let’s get to know each other and let’s reveal our souls,” she said.
In a way, Castillo’s work feels like some of the last vestiges of that hopeful internet—a place to learn, experience art, and bridge physical distance, not widen it emotionally. The Boyfriend Audit speaks to the power of art and literature by bringing us closer to each other.
Tags
Ani Castillo, Art, cartoons, Literature, Relationships, The Boyfriend Audit
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