In early August, Morgan Frank, board memeber of The National Book Critics Circle, contacted me to be part of a panel she was putting together for a Litquake event co-presented by The National Book Critics Circle and sponsored by the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District. She was researching Filipino-American writers in California and came upon […]
Celebrating the Evolution of Filipino-American Literature
On May 8th, I presented a session at Las Positas College’s debut Literary Arts Festival. You can listen to my session, Evolution of Filipino-American Literature, here. The first few minutes weren’t recorded, so I’m including the introduction here. Although May is coming to a close, at the time we were welcoming the month. Here we […]
Register for the Las Positas College Literary Festival: Evolution of Fil-Am literature
Las Positas College (LIvermore, Calif.) was planning its inaugural literary festival for May 2020. Richard Dry, English professor at Las Positas College, whose daughter and my kids had attended the same elementary school, had asked me if I would like to participate. We were in early discussions on topics when the pandemic hit and the […]
Podcast: On writing and exploring our Filipino-American heritage
Jray Madarang, who grew up in Porterville, near my hometown of Terra Bella, reached out to me last month to do a podcast for October’s Filipino-American History Month. He had attended our San Esteban Circle annual dance on Labor Day Weekend in 2015, when I gave a short speech on our Filipino-American heritage and talked […]
AAAS Virtual Book Fair Pilipinx panel
On August 12th, I participated in a panel, Pilipinx Essential Workers: Colonization, Delano and Beyond, hosted by Eastwind Books of Berkeley and the Association for Asian American Studies for AAAS’s Virtual Book Fair. I was honored to be a part of this panel, which included Enrique de la Cruz, co-author of The Forbidden Book: The […]
PAWA 2nd Open Mic reading
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter in place, the Philippine American Artists and Writers (PAWA) established its Open Mic reading to keep writers connected. Last Saturday, April 25th, I was invited to read along with poet Tony Robles, also known as “The People’s Poet,” who wrote Cool Don’t Live Here No More – a Letter […]
Kern Sol News article: Bakersfield Delano campus celebrates Filipino-American History
Delano youth reporter Oscar Camacho filed this report of my presentation to Filipino-American students from the Delano middle schools and Bakersfield College faculty about the importance of Ethnic Studies and teaching Filipino-American history in schools. The presentation was given on Larry Itliong Day, October 25th, 2019. You can read the news article here.
Honoring our Filipino Veterans of WWII – especially my father
On Monday, October 28, 2019, my sister Heidi and I attended the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco to receive a bronze replica of the medal on behalf of our father, Henry Empleo Enrado. This event is the 21st such ceremony in the state of California since the October 25, […]
Nurturing our village in the fields – at Bakersfield College
Back in December 2016, Oliver Rosales, Professor of History and Coordinator of the Social Justice Institute at Bakersfield College, and Andrew Bond, Associate Professor of English at Bakersfield College, reached out to a number of people to write a letter of support for a National Endowment for the Humanities Community Colleges grant they were applying […]
5th Filipino American International Book Festival ushers Fil-Am literary Renaissance
The 5th Filipino American International Book Festival opened at the San Francisco Main Library the second weekend in October (12-13, 2019). Hosted by the Philippine American Writers and Artists (PAWA), the San Francisco Public Library, and the Filipino American Center (SFPL), the book festival celebrated the theme, “Isang Mundo: Humanity, Diversity, and Resistance in the […]