About Me 

I was born and raised in Baguio, a tourist town in the Philippines known for its chilly climate, pine trees, indigenous culture, and nearby strawberry farms. Many of my stories are set in this town, or are about people who, like me, have left. I also spent a part of my childhood in Newark, Delaware, another setting for my fiction. I tend to write stories about the places where I live or have lived, which include Manila, Philippines, Austin, Texas, and Wellington, New Zealand, where I currently reside. I may strike people as rootless due to my ability to just pack up and leave, and writing is my way of taking root wherever I live. Oftentimes, my mind returns to Baguio when I write, since it is and will always be my first home.
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Aside from writing and reading, I love taking long walks around the beautiful city that is Wellington and pursuing my other passions, which include cooking, swimming, yoga, and tango. 

Professional Bio

Monica Macansantos was born and raised in the Philippines, and holds an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in failbetter.com, WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly, The Masters Review Anthology, Day One, Aotearotica, and Takahe, among other places, and she is currently Branches Nonfiction Editor of Rambutan Literary. Her essay, "Becoming A Writer: The Silences We Write Against", was named a Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2016. Her novella, "Leaving Auckland" (serialized in three parts on failbetter​), was a Top 25 Finalist in the Summer 2016 Glimmer Train Fiction Open, while her story, "Stopover", earned an Honorable Mention in the Winter 2013 Glimmer Train Fiction Open. Her work has been recognized with residencies at Hedgebrook and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. She is currently a PhD Candidate in Creative Writing at Victoria University's International Institute of Modern Letters in Wellington, New Zealand, where she is working on her first novel and an accompanying critical study of novels about the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines. She is represented by Kerry D'Agostino of Curtis Brown, Ltd. in New York City.