Filipino American Memoirs

Blame This on the Boogie
by Rina Ayuyang

“Inspired by the visual richness and cinematic structure of the Hollywood musical, Blame This on the Boogie chronicles the adventures of a Filipino American girl born in the decade of disco who escapes life’s hardships and mundanity through the genre’s feel-good song-and-dance numbers. Rina Ayuyang explores how the glowing charm of the silver screen can transform reality, shaping a person’s approach to childhood, relationships, sports, reality TV, and eventually politics, parenthood, and mortality…Blame This on the Boogie is Ayuyang’s ode to the melody of the world, and shows how tuning out of life and into the magic of Hollywood can actually help an outsider find her place in it.”

Uncle Rico’s Encore: Mostly True Stories of Filipino Seattle
by Peter Bacho

“In this collection of autobiographical essays, acclaimed novelist and short-story writer Peter Bacho centers the experiences of the Pinoy generation that grew up in Seattle’s multiethnic neighborhoods, from the Central Area to Beacon Hill to Rainier Valley. He recounts intimate moments of everyday life…He also relates vivid stories of defiance and activism, including resistance to the union-busting efforts of the federal government in the 1950s and organizing for decent housing and services for elders in the 1970s. Sharing a life inextricably connected to his community and the generation that came before him, this memoir is a tribute to Filipino Seattle.”

FE: A Traumatized Son’s Graphic Memoir
by Bren Bataclan

“When people ask Bren Bataclan to describe the tumultuous life with his mom Fe, they often ask, ‘How did you turn out so nice?’ Bataclan’s memoir illustrates many volatile, often hilarious experiences with a tantrum-prone, narcissistic, hoarder mom. Yet Fe is fundamentally a loving and gay-supportive, though often challenging, Filipina mother. Bataclan shares a journey tracing his family’s immigration from the Philippines to the United States. You will remember his bittersweet story forever, as he moves from coping to thriving, with frustration, trauma, compassion, and eventual acceptance.”

Monsoon Mansion: A Memoir
by Cinelle Barnes

“Told with a lyrical, almost-dreamlike voice as intoxicating as the moonflowers and orchids that inhabit this world, Monsoon Mansion is a harrowing yet triumphant coming-of-age memoir exploring the dark, troubled waters of a family’s rise and fall from grace in the Philippines…In this remarkable ode to survival, Cinelle Barnes creates something magical out of her truth—underscored by her complicated relationship with her mother. Through a tangle of tragedy and betrayal emerges a revelatory journey of perseverance and strength, of grit and beauty, and of coming to terms with the price of family—and what it takes to grow up.”

America is In the Heart: A Personal History
by Carlos Bulosan

“First published in 1943, this classic memoir by well-known Filipino poet Carlos Bulosan describes his boyhood in the Philippines, his voyage to America, and his years of hardship and despair as an itinerant laborer following the harvest trail in the rural West.”

Dirty Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family
by Jill Damatac

“In the style of Crying in H Mart and Minor Feelings, filmmaker Jill Damatac blends memoir, food writing, and colonial history as she cooks her way through recipes from her native-born Philippines and shares stories of her undocumented family in America…Interweaving forgotten colonial history and long-buried indigenous traditions, Damatac takes us through her time in America, cooking her way through Filipino recipes in her kitchen as she searches for a sense of self and renewed possibility. With emotional intelligence, clarity, and grace, Dirty Kitchen explores fractured memories to ask questions of identity, colonialism, immigration, belonging, and to find ways in which the ritual, tradition, and comfort of food, can answer them.”

Subo and Baon: A Memoir in Bites
by Ella deCastro Baron

“In Subo and Baon: A Memoir in Bites, Ella deCastro Baron invites us to a communal meal, a roundtable collection of creative nonfiction. The subo (handfed bites) and baon (food to go) she serves are kitchen counter-stories marinated in Filipino American identity, faith, family, chronic illness, and the complex fullness of being, becoming. Here, ancestors and more-than-human kin conspire, too. This is kapwa, deep interconnection. May those who partake in Ella’s generous offerings savor, metabolize, and be fed by core Filipino values that infuse flavor and sustenance into American culture.”

Between Two Poles: A Memoir
by Christine P. Dela Rosa

“Between Two Poles reflects on Christine P. Dela Rosa’s experience cycling from reluctant classmate, to roommate, to best friend, to caretaker with Lien Le. At first, the two are an inseparable pair, growing because of each other, until Lien’s first episodes of bipolar disorder hit, and the two struggle to hold on to the magic that once made their connection so special. Through childhood flashbacks, scene retellings, and personal essays, Christine shares a confluence of emotions associated with high expectations from cultural norms, the union and breaking apart of a codependent friendship, and first-hand experiences with the mental healthcare system in America. No psychology textbook is this personal nor live conversation this open.”

Somewhere in the Middle: A Journey to the Philippines in Search of Roots, Belonging, and Identity
by Deborah Francisco Douglas

“Half Filipino but raised in an American household, Deborah Francisco Douglas had always longed to know more about her Filipino heritage. So when a thick government-issued envelope arrived at her door announcing her assignment to the Philippines as a Peace Corps Volunteer, she snatched the opportunity and set out on a journey of self-discovery, travel, and adventure…Filled with warmth and humor, Somewhere in the Middle captures the simple joy found in ordinary moments and in the people we share our lives with, shedding new light on what it truly means to find the place where you belong.”

Crushed: A Graphic Memoir
by Trinidad Escobar

“Crushed is a biomythography (a literary form coined and mastered by Audre Lorde). This is the graphic memoir of cartoonist and poet Trinidad Escobar. Follow her character Nicole (an introverted book nerd) as she journeys to the Philippines, reuniting with her first family over glasses of brandy after years of being apart due to the forced adoption culture rooted in colonization and perpetuated by imperialism. By way of tales of aswang and giants, dwende and sirena, Nicole learns about a new perception of mental illness and trauma, ultimately utilizing indigenous talkstory—the antithesis of colonial silence—as a form of healing medicine.”

I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir
by Malaka Gharib

“The daughter of parents with unfulfilled dreams themselves, Malaka navigated her childhood chasing her parents’ ideals, learning to code-switch between her family’s Filipino and Egyptian customs, adapting to white culture to fit in, crushing on skater boys, and trying to understand the tension between holding onto cultural values and trying to be an all-American kid. Malaka Gharib’s triumphant graphic memoir brings to life her teenage antics and illuminates earnest questions about identity and culture, while providing thoughtful insight into the lives of modern immigrants and the generation of millennial children they raised.”

Growing Up Brown: Memoirs of a Filipino American
by Peter Jamero

“Peter Jamero’s story of hardship and success illuminates the experience of what he calls the ‘bridge generation’—the American-born children of the Filipinos recruited as farm workers in the 1920s and 30s. Their experiences span the gap between these early immigrants and those Filipinos who owe their U.S. residency to the liberalization of immigration laws in 1965…Jamero describes his early life in a farm-labor camp in Livingston, California, and the path that took him, through naval service and graduate school, far beyond Livingston. A longtime community activist and civic leader, Jamero describes decades of toil and progress before the Filipino community entered the sociopolitical mainstream.”

Almost Americans: A Quest for Dignity
by Patricia Justiniani McReynolds

“A mestiza describes growing up in 1930s California when racism was a way of life. Patricia Justiniani’s father was a Filipino and her mother a Norwegian. When the time comes to marry, Patricia and her Anglo fiancé must travel out of state because mixed marriage is forbidden.”

A Time to Rise: Collective Memoirs of the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP)
edited by Rene Ciria Cruz, Cindy Doming, and Bruce Occena

“A Time to Rise is an intimate look into the workings of the KDP, the only revolutionary organization that emerged in the Filipino American community during the politically turbulent 1970s and ’80s. Overcoming cultural and class differences, members of the KDP banded together in a single national organization to mobilize their community into civil rights and antiwar movements in the United States and in the fight for democracy and national liberation in the Philippines and elsewhere.”

Returning to My Father’s Kitchen: Essays
by Monica Macansantos

“A young Filipino writer’s odyssey toward home, in the wake of the loss of her poet father. In fifteen richly felt essays, Macansantos considers her family’s history in the Philippines, her own experiences as an exile, and the parent who was the heart of her family’s kitchen, whether standing at the stove to prepare dinner or sitting at the table to scribble in his notebook. Macansantos finds herself remaking her father’s chicken adobo, but also closely rereading his poems. As she reckons with his identity as an artist, she also comes into her own as a writer, and she invites us to consider whether it is possible to carry our homes with us wherever we go.”

Stretch Marks: A Psychologic Autobiography
by Jean Munson

“Stretch Marks is a deeply personal and empowering comic by Jean Munson, exploring the emotional and psychological journey of self-acceptance in a world that often body-shames. Through various stages of her life, Munson reflects on the hurtful comments and societal pressures that shaped her self-esteem. This autobiographical comic serves as both a bold confrontation and an inspirational story, teaching the importance of self-love despite the marks others—and even ourselves—leave behind. With colorful illustrations and raw honesty, Stretch Marks invites readers on a 64-page journey to embrace their flaws and stretch beyond harmful narratives.”

The Oracles: My Filipino Grandparents in America
by Pati Navalta

“After [Grandma] Fausta came to California to help care for Pati and her brother, three more grandparents arrived, one by one…The Oracles is the vivid memoir of a gifted young writer who, like so many others, has struggled with the traditional values of a culture she has never known. In sharp and unforgettable glimpses we see the shadows of superstition, the force of religion, and the embrace of family—sometimes welcome, sometimes not. Navalta presents an altogether honest and engaging portrait of generational strife and the clash of values in a Filipino American household that seeks to maintain its ties to family and homeland.”

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, illustrated by Fumi Nakamura

“As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home…But no matter where she was transplanted—no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape—she was able to turn to our world’s fierce and funny creatures for guidance…The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. Even in the strange and the unlovely, Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world’s gifts.”

Marilyn
by Amanda Ngoho Reavey

“Marilyn began as an exploration through somatic experiments on what it means to stay and became a fragmented map of the immigration system, the international adoption process, and family. How do you articulate disenfranchised grief? How does a person who has no origin write herself into existence? What happens when all you have left is, as Sarita Echavez See says, ‘the body to articulate loss’? Framed by a return trip to the Philippines in 2011, her first time back since leaving, Reavey takes the most intense images (real, imagined, dreamed) encountered while living in-between six different countries, and expunges them in attempt to stitch the Asian, diasporic body. The result is an ancestral line, a path back not to the beginning of life nor just before, but rather to the primordial. To ancestral roots. To orality: a name.”

The Groom Will Keep His Name: And Other Vows I’ve Made About Race, Resistance, and Romance
by Matt Ortile

“A riotous collection of ‘witty and captivating’ (Bitch Magazine) essays by a gay Filipino immigrant in America who is learning that everything is about sex—and sex is about power…As we meet and mate, we tell stories about ourselves, revealing not just who we are, but who we want to be. Ortile recounts the relationships and whateverships that pushed him to confront his notions of sex, power, and the model minority myth. Whether swiping on Grindr, analyzing DMs, or cruising steam rooms, Ortile brings us on his journey toward radical self-love with intelligence, wit, and his heart on his sleeve.”

The Crucible: An Autobiography by Colonel Yay, Filipina American Guerrilla
by Yay Panlilio

“In this 1950 memoir, Panlilio narrates her experience as a journalist, triple agent, leader in the Philippine resistance against the Japanese, and lover of the guerrilla general Marcos V. Augustin. From the war-torn streets of Japanese-occupied Manila, to battlegrounds in the countryside, and the rural farmlands of central California, Panlilio blends wry commentary, rigorous journalistic detail, and popular romance. Weaving together appearances by Douglas MacArthur and Carlos Romulo with dangerous espionage networks, this work provides an insightful perspective on the war.”

Recently, we hosted Jen Soriano on the Nation of Writers podcast to discuss the Panlilio’s legacy and the impact her life and writing had on Soriano’s own work. You can listen to that episode here.

Kilometer Zero: Personal Essays
by Wilfredo Pascual

“In Kilometer Zero, prizewinning essayist Wilfredo Pascual gathers the shards of personal experience and grapples with time, space, and nature to illuminate a world turned upside down. In seven incandescent stories accompanied by original photographs, the author depicts home as a foreign country and elsewhere as a hazy image of the self. Across striking landscapes, we find a runaway child, sex-reversed tilapias, a nocturnal lemur, mass murderers, a heroic farmworkers’ strike, and deadly earthquakes. Along the way, Pascual discovers writing itself as shelter and love as full of the world.”

Sleep in Me
by Jon Pineda

“Against the backdrop of his teenage sister’s car accident—in which a dump truck filled with sand slammed into the small car carrying her and her friends—Jon Pineda chronicles his sister Rica’s sudden transformation from a vibrant high school cheerleader to a girl wheelchair bound and unable to talk. For the next five years of her life, her only ability to communicate was through her rudimentary use of sign language. Lyrical in its approach and unflinching in its honesty, Sleep in Me is a heartrending memoir of the coming-of-age of a boy haunted by a family tragedy.”

Snakeskin: Essays
by Rocky Rivera

“Rocky Rivera is an emcee and performance artist from San Francisco. Her early beginnings as a journalist in publications such as Mass Appeal, The Source, and Rolling Stone inform her music, as she describes her progressive upbringing growing up in the Bay Area…Rocky’s music is a journey into the spirit of resistance, blending social justice, feminism and West Coast-style hip hop into through-provoking anthems with timeless appeal. Snakeskin is Rocky’s first book, a collection of autobiographical essays that chronicle her journey to becoming the artist. Included are complete lyrics to all of her albums, an invitation for the reader to dive deeply into the songs as Rocky intended.”

You’re That Bitch: & Other Cute Lessons About Being Unapologetically Yourself
by Bretman Rock

“Hilarious and earnest, this collection of essays and never-before-seen photos goes far beyond what we know of Bretman Rock from social media…You’re That Bitch welcomes you into Bretman Rock’s world—from how his childhood in the Philippines, his family, Filipino culture, and being a first-generation immigrant helped shape him into who he is today…With his signature honesty, this is an unfiltered and unprecedented look at what it means to be one of the first digital celebrities and that bitch—from dealing with cancel culture, drama and heartbreak, to what it means to love yourself and your community.”

Horse Barbie: A Memoir of Reclamation
by Geena Rocero

“By seventeen, Geena Rocero was the Philippines’ highest-earning trans pageant queen. A year later, Geena moved to the US where she could change her name and gender marker on her documents. But legal recognition didn’t mean safety. In order to survive, Geena went stealth and hid her trans identity, gaining one type of freedom at the expense of another…But as her star rose, her sense of self eroded. She craved acceptance as her authentic self yet had to remain vigilant in order to protect her dream career. The high-stakes double life finally forced Geena to decide herself if she wanted to reclaim the power of Horse Barbie once and for all: radiant, head held high, and unabashedly herself. A dazzling testimony from an icon who sits at the center of transgender history and activism, Horse Barbie is a celebratory and universal story of survival, love, and pure joy.”

Concepcion: Conquest, Colonialism, and an Immigrant Family’s Fate
by Albert Samaha

“Nearing the age at which his mother had migrated to the US…Albert Samaha began to question the ironclad belief in a better future that had inspired her family to uproot themselves from their birthplace…Tracing his family’s history through the region’s unique geopolitical roots in Spanish colonialism, American intervention, and Japanese occupation, Samaha fits their arc into the wider story of global migration as determined by chess moves among superpowers. Ambitious, intimate, and incisive, Concepcion explores what it might mean to reckon with the unjust legacy of imperialism, to live with contradiction and hope, to fight for the unrealized ideals of an inherited homeland.”

Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing
by Jen Soriano

“In this searing memoir in essays, activist Jen Soriano, the daughter of a neurosurgeon, journeys to understand the origins of her chronic pain and mental health struggles. By the end, she finds both the source and the delta of what bodies impacted by trauma might need to thrive. In fourteen essays connected by theme and experience, Soriano traverses centuries and continents, weaving together memory and history, sociology and personal stories, neuroscience and public health, into a vivid tapestry of what it takes to transform trauma not just body by body, but through the body politic and ecosystems at large.”

Crushing Soft Rubies: A Memoir
by Janet Stickmon

“Crushing Soft Rubies is the place where spirit, culture, and survival meet. It is the story of a Filipino-African-American who is caught between the death of her parents and the desperate need to define herself—not as an orphan, but as a strong woman who is willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure that her past does not become a barrier to her future. Janet, now a teacher and a married woman, leads us through the intense details of her story. From her childhood home being burned to the ground, to the joys and conflicts with her Filipino family, to seeking a connection to her African-American heritage, and then to the beautiful moment of her marriage, Janet navigates the rough waters of love, spirit, identity, and survival, maintaining a life filled with faith and wonder.”

The Body Papers: A Memoir
by Grace Talusan

“Grace Talusan’s critically acclaimed memoir powerfully explores the fraught contours of her own life as a Filipino immigrant and survivor of cancer and childhood abuse…The abuse and trauma Talusan suffers as a child affects all her relationships, her mental health, and her relationship with her own body. Later, she learns that her family history is threaded with violence and abuse. And she discovers another devastating family thread: cancer…The generosity of spirit and literary acuity of this debut memoir are a testament to her determination and resilience. In excavating such abuse and trauma, and supplementing her story with government documents, medical records, and family photos, Talusan gives voice to unspeakable experience, and shines a light of hope into the darkness.”

Fairest: A Memoir
by Meredith Talusan

“Fairest is a memoir about a precocious boy with albinism, a ‘sun child’ from a rural Philippine village, who would grow up to become a woman in America…As an immigrant to the US, Talusan came to be perceived as white, with further access to elite circles of privilege, but required Talusan to navigate through the complex spheres of race, class, sexuality, and queerness. Questioning the boundaries of gender, Talusan realized she did not want to be confined to a prescribed role as a man, and transitioned to become a woman, despite the risk of losing a man she deeply loved. Throughout her journey, Talusan shares poignant and powerful episodes of desirability and love that will remind readers of works such as Call Me By Your Name and Giovanni’s Room.”

Tans Interwoven: A Family’s Memoir in Words and Illustrations
by Kenneth Tan, Oliva Carbonel Tan, and Audrey Tan Ronquillo

“Meet the Tan family: Crescenciana, Olivia, Audrey, and Kenneth. They live their lives interwoven, their stories spanning time—from the 1920s to the modern day—and geographies—from the Philippines to Canada to the US…Tans Interwoven is an intergenerational collection of honest, heartwarming, and humorous memoirs written by a Filipino American family, with illustrations created by matriarch Crescenciana Tan and her grandson Kenneth Tan. Braiding their stories together, the Tans remind us that in our own families, with our lives entwining, we won’t see the patterns we’re repeating unless we take a moment to stop, step back, and look at the entire tapestry altogether.”

Big Little Man: In Search of My Asian Self
by Alex Tizon

“Shame, Alex Tizon tells us, is universal—his own happened to be about race. To counteract the steady diet of American television and movies that taught Tizon to be ashamed of his face, his skin color, his height, he turned outward. (‘I had to educate myself on my own worth. It was a sloppy, piecemeal education, but I had to do it because no one else was going to do it for me.’) Tizon illuminates his youthful search for Asian men who had no place in his American history books or classrooms. And he tracks what he experienced as seismic change: the rise of powerful, dynamic Asian men like Yahoo! cofounder Jerry Yang, actor Ken Watanabe, and NBA starter Jeremy Lin.”

The Beginning of Leaving
by Elsa Valmidiano

“In these essays, leaving is not simply a finite act but a process of resistance, reconciliation, and release—from a Motherland, a childhood, War, a body, a mindset, a painful past, or shame. Within this collection is a reflective and immersive travelogue as well as bildungsroman of a woman who is the daughter of Filipino immigrants. As she travels from her ancestral barrios in the Philippines, to the suburbs of LA, to the High Desert of California, and finally to the Australian Outback in Murujuga, themes of heartbreak, family, trauma, and race are intimately interwoven inside discussions surrounding gender expectations, as well as Motherland values versus adopted homeland values.”

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen
by Jose Antonio Vargas

“This is not a book about the politics of immigration. This book—at its core—is not about immigration at all. This book is about homelessness, not in a traditional sense, but in the unsettled, unmoored psychological state that undocumented immigrants like myself find ourselves in. This book is about lying and being forced to lie to get by; about passing as an American and as a contributing citizen; about families, keeping them together, and having to make new ones when you can’t. This book is about constantly hiding from the government and, in the process, hiding from ourselves. This book is about what it means to not have a home.

After 25 years of living illegally in a country that does not consider me one of its own, this book is the closest thing I have to freedom.”
—Jose Antonio Vargas, from Dear America