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Author Cinelle Barnes finds her way back after losing memory from aneurysm
By Allen Gaborro Today’s volatile, information-laden, post-truth paradigm makes it difficult to turn our focus away from the external world and toward our inward life. However, even at the risk of confronting doubt, anxiety, and the fear of inadequacy—and with the outside world ceaselessly closing in—we are compelled to observe and comprehend our delicate, complicated […]
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R. Ghrist debuts historical fiction about a forgotten heroine in wartime Manila
I Am Joey by R. Ghrist is a historical novel inspired by the extraordinary true story of Josefina Guerrero, a young Filipina woman whose courage during World War II helped shape the resistance movement in Japanese-occupied Manila. Set during one of the darkest periods in Philippine history, the novel follows Josefina as her privileged life […]
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Cinelle Barnes’s memoir pieces together her past as she recovers from brain trauma
“A Way Home: A Memoir of Losing Yourself and the Beauty of Returning” by Cinelle Barnes is a heart-wrenching memoir about remembering and rebuilding a life after everything known disappears in a flash. In 2023, Barnes is writing a travelogue about journeying home to the Philippines after a 20-year separation when she suffers a traumatic […]
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When cultural, generational identities clash in a Filipino kitchen
By Allen Gaborro There are few things in this world that Filipinos cherish more than food, family, drama, and their cultural heritage. So, when you combine all these disparate elements into a passionate, multifaceted chiaroscuro of a very personal work of fiction, you can’t help but feel the anticipation of experiencing what it means to […]
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Patrick Joseph Caoile publishes debut collection of short stories of Filipino immigrants
Patrick Joseph Caoile’s “Tales from Manila Ave.” Caoile’s short story collection, released this month, traces the joys and struggles of Filipino immigrants as they navigate life and ponder identity outside their motherland. Through touching reflection on community and memory, Caoile’s debut collection takes an honest yet playful look into the intricacies of longing and belonging, […]
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Food, fiction, and Filipino folklore in E.R. Escober’s debut novel
Author E.R. Escober introduces a reimagined edition of his debut novel — a telenovela-style fusion of family drama, art, and Filipino cuisine. In “Not My Bowl of Rice: A Telenovela-Style Semi-Graphic Novel and Cookbook,” Escober transforms the Filipino family kitchen into a stage where love, rivalry, and identity simmer together, framed by recipes that double as […]
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Immigration and the Filipino bounty hunter
By Allen Gaborro In her narrative, Cindy Fazzi uses the highly-topical theme of immigrants and immigration to the United States. She did so in order to compose what she doubtlessly hoped would be the makings of a riveting drawing of life in America. This is the life of those eager-minded arrivals from the Philippines and […]
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A memoir on surviving trauma by Cordillera-born author
By Sheilah Jane I grew up poor, in the shadows of Martial Law in the Philippines. I was born and raised in Ifugao in the Cordillera Mountains navigating hardship and uncertainty long before I moved to America. I came to America 1998, 28 and pregnant with my third child. Here, I straddled two worlds—one shaped […]
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How the Filipino ‘mangkukulam’ found its way into American horror fiction
By Daphne Fama “When your grandmother was pregnant with your mom, I spent all night with a bolo, ready to cut the tongue off of any aswang who wanted to eat your mom up,” my grandfather once told me, his smile both teasing and proud. Carigara, the little town where my family had spent generations, […]