Creative Nonfiction

"Reckoning with the American Dream in Las Vegas." Electric Literature, November 20, 2025. 
"Monica Macansantos on Finding Her Voice and Reuniting with Her Father Through Used Books." Lit Hub, May 15, 2025. 
"4:15 pm in East Haddam, Connecticut." Poor Yorick, Spring 2025. 
"Winter in Three Countries." Phi Kappa Phi Forum, Winter 2023. Print and Online. 
"5:45 pm in Eastbourne, Wellington." Bennington Review, Issue 12, Fall 2023. Print. 
"A Black Comedy Clicked on My Metaphorical Light: How the quirky cruelty of 'Ghost World' validated and ennobled my rebellious spirit." Electric Literature. January 23, 2023. 
"The Grief of Publishing a Book Without the Parent Who Inspired You." Lit Hub. October 24, 2022. 
"My Father and W.B. Yeats." The Hopkins Review: Volume 15, No. 9, Summer 2022. Print and Digital.
Recognized in:

• CLMP’s “A Reading List for Filipino-American History Month 2025”

• The Best American Essays 2023, ed. Vivian Gornick and Robert Atwan, Notable Essays and Literary Nonfiction

"A Long and Circuitous Path." The Masters Review Anthology (edited by Diane Cook): Vol. X, 2022. (essay on the writing life for The Masters Review's tenth anniversary issue)
"A Shared Stillness." Colorado Review, Spring 2021. Online and Print. 
Recognized in:

• The Best American Essays 2022, ed. Alexander Chee and Robert Atwan, Notable Essays and Literary Nonfiction

• ​CLMP's "A Reading List for Filipino-American History Month 2021". October 4, 2021. 

• CLMP's "A Reading List for Filipino-American History Month 2022". October 6, 2022. 

"Little Girls." About Place Journal: Works of Resistance and Resilience​. Vol. VI, Issue 2, October 2020. 
​"Returning to My Father's Kitchen." Lunch Ticket: Issue 17, Summer/Fall 2020. 
Recognized in:

• The Best American Essays 2021, Notable Essays and Literary Nonfiction of 2020 (list appears in The Best American Essays 2022)

"The Life-Affirming Words of Katherine Mansfield in a Time of Pandemic." The Pantograph Punch:
June 10, 2020. ​(reprinted in Katherine Mansfield and Children, Edinburgh University Press, October 2021)
Recognized in:

• The Spinoff: "The Bulletin." June 17, 2020. 

• KHN Center for the Arts Alumni News: July 1, 2020.

"The Power of a Vacant House." Vol.1 Brooklyn: March 25, 2020. 
"How Zumba helped heal my trauma." ​SBS Voices: November 11, 2019.
"To Resist Being Unseen." Another Chicago Magazine: October 17, 2019. 
Recognized in:

• The Rumpus: "This Week in Essays." October 23, 2019. 

"How I dealt with the grief of losing my father." SBS Voices: August 30, 2019. 
 "30 Minutes and a World Apart." New Naratif: October 17, 2018. 
​"The Price of Freedom." The New Filipino Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Around the Globe. Ed. Jacqueline Chio-Lauri. Chicago: Agate Surrey, September 2018. (creative nonfiction with heirloom recipe)
Recognized in:

• Epicurious. September 2018. 

• The San Francisco Chronicle: "Our favorite cookbooks of 2018". Nov. 23, 2018. ​

"My Father, me, and the toy bear we both loved." SBS Life: August 31. 2018.
"My 'Get Out' moment as an overseas student." SBS Life: ​August 21, 2018. 
"Visitations." Aotearotica: Vol. 5, August 2018. (print only)
"The Gift of Connection." ​Takahe Magazine: Issue 92, April 2018. Reprinted in Maganda Magazine, Issue 32, May 2019.
"You're Here Because You're Good." Hedgebrook (alumnae blog): 8 September, 2016. 
Recognized in:

• Fortune raceAhead, September 13, 2016.

"Becoming a Writer: The Silences We Write Against." TAYO Literary Magazine: 31 May, 2015. (not available online)
Recognized in:

• The Best American Essays 2016, ed. Jonathan Franzen and Robert Atwan, Notable Essays and Literary Nonfiction​ 

"The Day I Was a Comfort Woman." Your Impossible Voice: Summer 2014.​
"James." Impact: An Anthology of Short Memoirs: June 2012. 

News Articles & Op-eds

"And Now, I Know: Learning to Take Up Space as a Writer." The Writer's Digest, May 16, 2025. 
"Writing As Collaboration: On Weaving My Late Father’s Poems into My Work." Incidental Noyes: a Northwestern University Press blog. May 15, 2025. 
"Free or Low-Cost Residency Programs from Around the World to Apply to in 2024." Electric Literature. December 26, 2023. 
"Free or Low-Cost American Writing Residencies to Apply for in 2024." Electric Literature. December 19, 2023. 
"Why Did NZ Filipinos vote overwhelmingly to return the Marcos dynasty to power?" The Spinoff. May 31, 2022. 
"Filipino Food in Wellington is Moving From Its Enclaves Into the Mainstream." VICE New Zealand. January 30, 2019. 
"When One's Anger is Justified, but Silenced: Tone Policing in Filipino Immigrant Groups." Brain Mill Press Voices: The ANGER issue. October 31, 2018. ​
"The invisible brown Asians of Crazy Rich Asians." SBS Life: September 7, 2018.

Poetry

"Homing in" and "Christmas House, Vallejo, California." A Fire to Light Our Tongues: Texas Writers on Spirituality. Ed. Donna Walker-Nixon and Elizabeth Dell. Texas Christian University Press, May 27, 2022. 
"Six War Haikus." Cha: An Asian Literary Journal: Issue 34, December 2016. 
"Afternoon in Laguna" and "Return to Maguindanao." TAYO Literary Magazine: Issue 5, 2015-2016. (print only)
"Hand-me-down." phatitude Literary Magazine: Vol. 2, No. 1, 2010. (print only)
"The Cup of Knowing." Quarterly Literary Review Singapore: Vol. 8 No. 2, 2 April 2009. 
"Packing", "Waiting", and "Rain." 100 Filipina Poets. 2008.  

Work in Translation

"The Autumn Sun." (Czech Translation) Kuřata v hadí kleci ("Chicks in the Snake´s Cage"). Eds. Jaroslav Olsa and Silvie Mitlenerová. Prague: Argo Press, 2020. (print only)
"Afternoon in Laguna." (Spanish Translation) Arbolarium: Antologia Poetica de los Cinco Continentes. Ed. Robert Max Steenkist. Bogota: Colegio Bilingüe José Max León, April 2019. (print only)

Academic Writing

“The Nation as Fragmented Self in Gina Apostol’s Gun Dealers’ Daughter.” Closer to Liberation: Pin[a/x]y Activism in Theory and Practice. Eds. Amanda Solomon Amorao, Candice L. Custodio Tan, and Jen Soriano. San Diego: Cognella, 2023. 
THE ENEMY WITHIN: FICTIONALIZING THE MARCOS REGIME (creative writing PhD thesis, critical component). Victoria University of Wellington Library. Submitted on 10 October 2018, first online publication 07 May 2021. 
“Historical Amnesia, Colonial Trauma, and Self-Immolation in Ninotchka Rosca’s State of War.” Journal of English Studies and Comparative Literature 18.3 (2019).
“Is There Only One Way to Be Free? A Review of Edilberto K. Tiempo’s To Be Free.” Silliman Journal 57.1 (2016): 101-109. Print and digital. (reprint) 

Book Reviews & Author Engagements

"9 Books About Filipino Fathers." Electric Literature: 23 May 2025. 
In Everything I See Your Hand by Naira Kuzmich, reviewed in Colorado Review. 20 April 2024. 
A conversation with Greg Marshall on his debut memoir, Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It. Electric Literature: 22 June 2023. 
Mongolian Horse by David E. Yee, reviewed in Colorado Review. 1 March 2023. 
"9 Books About the Complexities of Filipino Family Bonds." Electric Literature: 21 October 2022. 
A conversation with Addie Tsai on their novel, Unwieldy Creatures. Electric Literature: 4 August 2022. 
"A Difficult Reckoning: A Review of Grace Talusan's The Body Papers." Anomaly/Anomalous Press: 23 May 2022. 
A conversation with Melissa Chadburn on her debut novel, A Tiny Upward Shove. Electric Literature: 12 April 2022. 
What Could Be Saved by Gregory Spatz, reviewed in Colorado Review. 6 April 2022. 
A conversation with Daphne Palasi Andreades on her debut novel, Brown Girls. The Masters Review blog: 6 January 2021. 
The Memory Eaters by Elizabeth Kadetsky, reviewed in Colorado Review. 26 June 2021. 
Abundance by Jakob Guanzon, reviewed in Colorado Review. 5 May 2021. 
To Be Free by Edilberto K. Tiempo, reviewed in The Halo-Halo Review. ​1 August 2016. 

Interviews & Audio Recordings

5 Questions about Returning to My Father's Kitchen for LIMINAL (Australia). July 17, 2025. 
Interview with Tony Robles for Listen & Be Heard (Season 3, Episode 9). June 26, 2025. 
A conversation with Colorado Review about Returning to My Father's Kitchen and the essay, "A Shared Stillness." June 23, 2025. 
How a Filipino Poet’s Kitchen Became His Daughter’s Writing Desk: interviewed by Cherry Lou Sy for Electric Literature. May 15, 2025. 
Black Mountain Institute Library Sessions (Seafood City Edition). May 5, 2025. 
Interview with Speaking of Marvels on Returning to My Father's Kitchen. May 2, 2025. 
Interview with Nevada Public Radio's Desert Companion (Black Mountain Institute Conversations). First aired on January 26, 2025 on KNPR Las Vegas. 
Interview with Speaking of Marvels on Love and Other Rituals. February 14, 2023. 
A Rush of Joy from Complete Strangers: an interview with Monica Macansantos by Grace Talusan for The Rumpus. January 9, 2023.
Love and Other Rituals: Home, growing as a writer, and the Filipino diaspora (interview with Jaime Alejandro) for Arts Calling Podcast, Episode #76. December 22, 2022. 
Monica Macansantos on Tango, Cooking, and Reading E.M. Forster (conversation with Greg Marshall) for The Hopkins Review. October 21, 2022. 
Live from Storyknife: 49 Writers Project, September 2022. (group reading with Carolyn Forche, Pam Uschuk, Emily Hoang, Jamaica Baldwin and Erica Watson)
5 Questions with Monica Macansantos for LIMINAL (Australia). September 16, 2022. 
Interview with Oyster River Pages (contributor showcase, Issue 4). August 25, 2021. 
A Reading of "Inheritances" for Your Impossible Voice, Spring 2021. 
A Reading of "Little Girls" for About Place Journal's "Works of Resistance, Resilience" Reading Series. December 4, 2020.
Interview with Cristina Querrer for yourartsygirl podcast, featuring Filipino, Filipino-American, and POC writers. Episode 21, June 26, 2019. 
A reading from "The Day I Was a Comfort Woman" for Your Impossible Voice, Issue 4, 2014.

Contests Judged (selected)

• Witness Literary Awards, Spring 2025 (Nonfiction)

• PBS Kids Writing Contest (Las Vegas), 2025. 

Selected Conference Presentations & Group Readings

• "Panayam Pinay" with Likhaan: U.P. Institute of Creative Writing. June 25, 2025, University of the Philippines-Diliman. With F.H. Batacan, Jet Tagasa, and Angela Fabunan. 

• Witness Spring 2025 launch, May 1, 2025, Black Mountain Institute Library. 

• AWP 2025 Offsite Reading with Storyknife Writers Retreat Alumnae. Thursday, March 27, 5-7 pm, First Draft DTLA. 

• "The Challenges to Speaking Our Truth: Filipino Women Writing Nonfiction." Panel discussion & reading, AWP Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA, March 26-30, 2025. Participating as panel moderator. With Laurel Flores Fantauzzo, Jen Palmares Meadows, Melissa Chadburn, and Anna Cabe. 

• "Bad Immigrant Daughters": Panel discussion & reading, AWP Annual Conference, Kansas City, MO, February 8-10, 2024. With Grace Loh Prasad, Lisa Chiu, Putsata Reang, and Lindsay Wong. 

• AWP Offsite Reading with Colorado Review, Parlor Press, and Futurepoem, Kansas City, MO, February 9, 2024. With Kazim Ali, John Gallaher, Gale Marie Thompson, Sasha Steensen, Kylan Rice, Aby Kaupang, Matthew Cooperman, Daniel Bourne, Molly Spencer, Manuel Paul López, Stephon Lawrence, Tolghman Goldsborough, Wendy Lotterman & Violet Sporlock.

• AWP Offsite Reading with Another Chicago Magazine and JackLeg Women Writers, Kansas City, MO, February 8, 2024. With Dr. Taylor Byas, Jessica Cuello, Suzanne Frischkorn, Rita Mookerjee, Melissa Studdard, Gemini Wahhaj, and Karen Rigby.

• "The Cultural Contours of Grief": Panel discussion, AWP Annual Conference, March 2021 (Virtual). With Frankie Rollins, Kimi Eisele, and Michelle Chikaonda. 

• ​“Historical Amnesia, Colonial Trauma, and Self-Immolation in Ninotchka Rosca’s State of War": Paper presentation, FASSGRAD Conference, University of Waikato, New Zealand, November 2017. 

Awards & Recognitions

​Fellowships at Artists' Residency Programs and Institutes:

• Marguerite & Lamar Smith Fellowship, Carson McCullers Center, Columbus, Georgia (3 Months, September 1-December 1, 2025) 

• Shearing Fellowship, Black Mountain Institute, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (9 months, Aug 2024-May 2025)

• Monson Arts, Maine (4 weeks, 2023)

• Storyknife Writers Retreat, Alaska (4 weeks, 2022)

• I-Park Foundation, Connecticut (4 weeks, 2021)​

• KHN Center for the Arts, Nebraska (6 weeks, 2019)

• Hedgebrook, Washington State (4 weeks, 2014)

• KHN Center for the Arts, Nebraska (4 weeks, 2012)

Academic Fellowships and Recognitions:

• James A. Michener Fellowship for Writing, University of Texas at Austin (MFA, 2010-2013)

• Victoria Doctoral Scholarship, Victoria University of Wellington (PhD, 2015-2018)

• Graduated magna cum laude from the University of the Philippines-Diliman (BA, 2007)​

• Phi Kappa Phi Love of Learning Award (2019) 

Other Prizes and Recognitions:

• Notable Citation in The Best American Essays 2023 for the essay, "My Father and W. B. Yeats" (published in The Hopkins Review in 2023)

• Notable Citation in The Best American Essays 2022, Notable Essays of 2021 for the essay, "A Shared Stillness" (published in Colorado Review in 2021)

• Notable Citation in The Best American Essays 2022, Notable Essays of 2020 for the essay, "Returning to My Father's Kitchen" (published in Lunch Ticket in 2020)

• Finalist, Glimmer Train Fiction Open for the novella, "Leaving Auckland" (2016)

• Notable Citation in The Best American Essays 2016 for the essay, "Becoming A Writer: The Silences We Write Against" (published in TAYO Literary Magazine in 2015)

• Honorable Mention, Glimmer Train Fiction Open for the short story, "Stopover" (2013)

Writer’s Profiles

Poets and Writers
​Muck Rack 
PhD Alumni Profile, International Institute of Modern Letters