5 December 2020 Philippine Star It was the summer of 2018 and I had just arrived in Los Angeles, California, after two weeks at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in Middlebury College, Vermont. I lived with my sister for a week and met some of my friends who lived in LA. That day, Vida and […]
The bleakest Christmas
Philippine Star 12 December 2020 I’ve been home for three months and know that this would be the bleakest Christmas for many Filipinos, perhaps since the Second World War. I see people of all ages begging on the streets, shoppers buying only the most essential items [food and medicines], and I feel the taste of […]
‘Riverrun’ redux
I am continuing the Q and A that the international press has been asking me about my novel, Riverrun, which will be published by Penguin Books South East Asia this month. Q: The novel covers the 60s to the 80s. How much of the Philippine LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, queer, bisexual, transgender and queer] experience has […]
‘Riverrun’ goes global
My novel, ‘Riverrun,’ is now being printed by Penguin South East Asia. Printed copies will be sold in Asia while e-copies will be sold in the rest of the world. I have been fielding questions from the international press about the book. Here are the answers to the flurry of queries, telescoped as an FAQ […]
The foreign student
Being a foreign student in the United Kingdom meant living on the proverbial shoestring. Along with the Malaysian and Singaporean students in Muirhead Hall at the University of Stirling, I went to the supermarket on our first day. I invited them to come along with me so we could make our most important acquisition—our rice […]