Description: Fiction. Asian American Studies. As the first international anthology of Filipina writers published in the United States, BABAYLAN reflects the complex history of a people whose roots have stretched to both sides of the globe. The voices represented in this collection offer a broad and varied perspective on the Filipina writer whose diasporic existence is a living, breathing bridge, not only between countries but also generations, as strong voices from the past fuel realities of the future. As a result, vibrant and original art, the trademark of Filipina writers perpetually emerges and evolves. With contributions from over 60 writers--both Filipina and Filipina American--BABAYLAN provides readers with a comprehensive view of a growing and vibrant transnational literary culture. Challenging. Innovative. Fierce and reflective. Somber and funny. No one word can capture the extraordinary range of this collection.
Brief description: Eileen Tabios is the author of the poetry collection Beyond Life Sentences (Anvil 1998), which received the Philippine National Book Award for Poetry; a book of poetry, essays, and interviews Black Lightning: Poetry-in-Progress (AAWW 1998), which received a Witter Bynner Poetry Grant; and a collection of prose and poetry, Ecstatic Mutations: Experiments in the Poetry Laboratory (Giraffe Books 2000). She is editor of The Anchored Angel: Selected Writings of Jose Garcia Villa (Kaya 1999) and the poetry editor of Screaming Monkeys, a forthcoming anthology of prose, poetry, and visual art about cultural portrayals of Asian America. The 1996-1999 editor of the Asian Pacific American Journal, Tabios has published her poetry, fiction, and essays internationally.