Panel: Pinay Lit 

A not to miss night of Pinay womanist writers reading from their latest works. 

Curated by Barbara Jane Reyes. 

Watch on YouTube. 

Readers include:

Danni Quintos is the author of the poetry collection, Two Brown Dots (BOA Editions, 2022), chosen by Aimee Nezhukumatathil as winner of the A. Poulin Jr. Prize, and PYTHON (Argus House, 2017), an ekphrastic chapbook featuring photography by her sister, Shelli Quintos. She is a Kentuckian, a knitter, an educator and an Affrilachian Poet. She received her BA from The Evergreen State College, and her MFA in Poetry from Indiana University. Her work has appeared in Poetry Magazine, Cream City Review, Cincinnati Review, The Margins, Best New Poets 2015, Salon and elsewhere. Quintos lives in Lexington with her kid, farmer-spouse and their little dog too. 

Barbara Jane Reyes was born in Manila, Philippines, raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she is the author of Gravities of Center (Arkipelago Books, 2003), Poeta en San Francisco (TinFish Press, 2005), Diwata (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2010), To Love as Aswang (Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc., 2015),  Invocation to Daughters (City Lights Publishing, 2017), Letters to a Young Brown Girl (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2020) and Wanna Peek Into My Notebook?: Notes on Pinay Liminality (Paloma Press, 2022). Reyes is also the author of three chapbooks, For the City That Nearly Broke Me (Aztlan Libre Press, 2012), Cherry (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, 2007) and Easter Sunday (Ypolita Press, 2007). She received her BA in Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, her MFA at San Francisco State University, and she teaches in the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program at University of San Francisco. She lives with her husband, poet and educator Oscar Bermeo, in Oakland.

Jen Soriano (she~they) is a writer, performer, social movement strategist and author of the chapbook Making the Tongue Dry. She is also co-editor of Closer to Liberation a Pina/xy activism anthology spearheaded by Dr. Amanda Amorao and DJ Kuttin Kandi. Her first full-length book, Nervous, a collection of personal essays about healing the history we carry in our bodies is forthcoming from Amistad/HarperCollins in 2023.  Soriano writes about buried stories that long for air and the space to shine. Her work has received the Penelope Niven Prize and the Fugue Prose Prize, as well as fellowships from Vermont Studio Center, Hugo House and the Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat. Originally from a landlocked area of southwest Chicago, she now lives with her partner, eight-year-old son and tweenaged water dog on Duwamish territory, Seattle, near the Salish Sea. She wants you to know that even if you’ve already eaten, it’s probably time to eat again.   

Isabel Yap is a Filipino writer of speculative fiction and poetry. Occasionally she does freelance editing and copywriting. She is also a product manager; with a background primarily in start-ups and mobile apps, she enjoys collaborating with technical teams to solve problems for users. She uses empathy and curiosity in both career paths.Yap’s debut short story collection, Never Have I Ever, is out now from Small Beer Press.

Connect:

Danni Quintos - Website | Danni Quintos - Twitter | Danni Quintos - Instagram

Barbara Jane Reyes - Website | Barbara Jane Reyes - Instagram | Barbara Jane Reyes - Twitter

Jen Soriano - Website | Jen Soriano - Twitter | Jen Soriano - Instagram 

Isabel Yap - Website | Isabel Yap - Twitter | Isabel Yap - Instagram