In this episode, we discuss the life and work of Filipina-American journalist and guerilla leader Yay Panlilio. Born in 1913 to a Filipina mother and Irish-American father, she moved to the Philippines in the 1930s where she became a popular reporter, photographer, and radio broadcaster. When World War II broke out, Yay served as an informant for the U.S. Army by encoding secret messages in her radio broadcasts. Eventually this caught the attention of the Japanese Army that occupied the Philippines, and Yay had to flee Manila to the countryside, where she joined the famed Marking Guerillas, one of many Filipino guerilla groups battling for freedom.
Yay would prove crucial to the Marking Guerillas for planning strategies, fulfilling administrative duties, and crafting anti-Japanese propaganda, earning the title Colonel Yay. After surviving the war, Yay returned to the United States and continued writing. Her memoir, The Crucible: An Autobiography of Colonel Yay, Filipina American Guerilla, was published in 1950. She was also awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Harry Truman for her services during the war.
For this episode, we are joined by writer, scholar, performer and activist Jen Soriano, author of the recent collection Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing. You can read more about Jen below.
Jen is interviewed by Nate King, Digital Content Associate at the American Writers Museum. This conversation originally took place August 22, 2024 and was recorded over Zoom.
JEN SORIANO (she~they) is a Filipinx-American writer, independent scholar, and performer who has long worked at the intersection of grassroots organizing, narrative strategy, and art-driven social change. They are the author of the chapbook Making the Tongue Dry, and the lyric essay collection Nervous, which won the 2024 Memoir Prize and the American Book Fest prize for books about mental health and psychology. They are also co-editor of the anthology Closer to Liberation: Pina/xy Activism in Theory and Practice and author of “Multiplicity From the Margins,” which explores the potential of intersectional form to disrupt oppressive narratives and expand narrow worldviews. Originally from a landlocked part of the Chicago area, Jen has spent the past decade living with her family in Seattle, near the Duwamish River and the Salish Sea.