Section
Creative Nonfiction
Personal essays, memoir and literary nonfiction by contemporary Filipino writers, exploring memory, place, family, faith and identity in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Read creative nonfiction in English. For scholarly writing, see our critical essays; for invented worlds, our fiction.
Browse all journal issues, meet the essayists in our contributors, or send an essay of 2,500 to 4,000 words through our submission guidelines.
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Visceral
Recently, I discovered a poem entitled “Aswang” by Barbara Jane Reyes. Readings of the poem relate it to the subversive nature of powerful women. But the moment I…
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My Other Name
I was five when I learned I had another name, besides what my parents gave me. The name was first born out of my younger sister’s anger who…
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Maupay (At Mga Katagang Waray na Di Ko Malilimutan)
Maupay nga aga (kulop o gab-i) – magandang umaga, hapon o gabi. Magiliw ang wastong kataga. Madalas tayong magpalitan ng mga “maupay” – sa umaga o gabi –…
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Choosing to Stay Home
“Diri lang ta,” Nanay Salbing says, as she leads us through the maze that is Barangay Pasil. An hour ago, I was sitting in a cubicle in our…
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Baybayin All Over Her Face
Her eyes spill out unspoken stories—in the form of wrinkles that etch deeper and longer with the passage of time. From the corners of her eyes, they branch…
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My Trilingual Career
Francis C. Macansantos – Butch to his friends and family – considered many places home. Born in Cotabato City in 1949, he spent his boyhood in Zamboanga City,…
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Here, There, Everywhere: Catching Up with Criselda Yabes
(Criselda Yabes has published eight books, including Sarena’s Story: The Loss of a Kingdom, which won the UP Centennial Literary Prize for Creative Non-Fiction simultaneously with Below the…