Settling St. Malo: The Film
World Premiere · New Orleans Film Festival · October 2026
Adapted from my award-winning poetry collection, Settling St. Malo explores the history and memory of Filipino Louisiana through poetry, archival materials, reenactment, and documentary film.
Current Work
There No More
Poetry · UL Press · Forthcoming February 2027
There No More is a poetry collection that takes its name from the Louisiana expression “ain’t there no more.” Set along the New Orleans shore of Lake Pontchartrain, the collection explores what it means to live in a landscape shaped by disappearance, as environmental change, storms, and development erase the landmarks that once defined a community. Drawing from local history and personal experience, There No More considers how storytelling helps us navigate what is gone and imagine what endures.
Adobo at Gumbo: Savoring the Culinary History and Food Culture of Filipino Louisiana
Nonfiction · LSU Press · Forthcoming 2028
Adobo at Gumbo takes readers on a journey through the culinary history of Filipino Louisiana. What begins as a search for a childhood noodle dish becomes an exploration of how migration, colonial history, and Louisiana’s own food culture shaped what Filipinos cooked in the Gulf South from the 1860s to the 1960s. Moving between fishing camps, restaurants, and family kitchens, the book uncovers the flavors and stories of Filipino settlers and their descendants. Drawing from archival research, interviews, cookbooks, and family memories, Adobo at Gumbo reveals a shared heritage where Filipino and Louisiana cuisines meet at the crossroads of history and taste.
Areas of Practice
News
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Story of St. Malo in the Philippines
Tourist to Storytellers Last November, I had the opportunity to guide four Filipino content creators along Louisiana’s coast, tracing the history of the earliest Filipino settlement in what is now the United States. We stood at Shell Beach, looking across Lake Borgne toward the waters where St. Malo once stood. We visited the historical marker,…
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Center for History & Culture Fellow
I was named a Research Fellow for 2024-25 Academic Year by the Center for History and Culture of Southeast Texas and Upper Gulf Coast at Lamar University.
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Summerlee Book Prize
Settling St. Malo won the 2024 Summerlee Book Prize–Creative. The award recognizes book-length publications that best enrich our knowledge of the past, present, and future of Southeast Texas and the greater Gulf Coast.
