On September 17, 2016 (or September 18 in the afternoon here in New Zealand), I had the opportunity to Skype into this month's meeting of the Boston Filipino-American Book Club, where I answered questions about the story "Playing With Dolls" (published by Amazon's Day One) and the essay "Becoming A Writer: The Silences We Write Against" which appeared in TAYO Literary Magazine last year. The original plan was to discuss "Playing With Dolls" for this meeting, but because "Becoming A Writer: The Silences We Write Against" recently made it to the Notable List of the Best American Essays of 2016, they decided to add it to the reading list for this meeting. It was fascinating for me to engage in their readings of both pieces, and to see how they linked the story and essay to larger ideas of community and belongingness. I also enjoyed discussing the necessity of violating the Filipino community's code of silence in order to engage with the community's narratives and enable greater representation. It was a fun evening (or afternoon here) and I hope to meet the group again in the future when I have a book out! 

Thanks again to Grace Talusan, Bren Bataclan, and Anna Alves for organizing this event.

My essay, Becoming A Writer: The Silences We Write Against, which appeared in TAYO Literary Magazine's blog back in 2015, is on the Notable List of the Best American Essays of 2016, edited by Jonathan Franzen! Congratulations to my friends Wilfredo Pascual and Greg Marshall, who also have essays on the list. When I set out to write about my struggles with the Philippine Literary Establishment, I thought I was throwing away my literary career (at least in the Philippines, where I expected to make some enemies with what I wrote). I never expected to receive this amount of recognition for the finished product. I'd like to thank the editors of TAYO Literary Magazine who bravely published the piece, especially Melissa Sipin who invited me to write it. You can read the full essay in the link above, and you can find my name in the list below:

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So stoked to find out that the brief essay I wrote for Hedgebrook's blog, "You're Here Because You're Good", was featured in raceAhead, Fortune Magazine's Newsletter on Culture and Diversity! You'll have to scroll down to read their review (where it's categorized under The Woke Leader), but anyway I'll repost it here:
Advice for the “minority” person in every gifted program
Monica Macansantos is a Philippine-born novelist with a long line of credentials – she’s currently working on her Ph.D. - and prestigious residencies under her belt. Yet she is still beset by self-doubt, particularly in majority white spaces. She has written a lovely essay which doubles as a reminder for anyone who is striving and achieving their dreams: “You’re here because you’re good.”

​You can find the full issue where my essay is featured here.