(Reviews of Individual Books are available under PUBLICATIONS.)
AUDIO: Poetry Foundation’s “Poetry Now” Series, Aug. 28, 2017
VIDEOS:
Poetry Reading & Q&A, American Center Moscow’s “Meet a Poet” series, November 21, 2022
“AAWW at 30: In the Heart,” Asian American Writers Workshop, November 29, 2021
“6 Contemporary Poets Mining The Depths of Language,” Ezvid Wiki, April 6, 2020
Asian American Poetry Now: BAM/PFA, UC Berkeley (October 2007)
TEXTS:
“A View From the Easel” by Lakshmi Rivera, Hyperallergic, March 2024
“2023 Filipino American Visual Arts in Review: An Artsilog” by France Viana, Positively Filipino, January 2024.
“Dive into local lit: Growing Up Filipino 3 launches” by Lala Singuian, Lifestyle.Inq., Jan. 27, 2023
“In white heat and/or on a roll” by Alfred A. Yuson, The Philippine Star, Dec. 19, 2022
“Backstory of the Poem, ‘The Return of DoveLion’,” Art & Humanity, December 2022
“Why Venancio Igarta is an important Filipino Artist,” ABS-CBN, Nov. 22, 2022
“A Reading List for Filipino American History Month,” CLMP, October 2022
“Kakampink Creativity continues to thrive” by Alfred A. Yuson, The Philippine Star, July 4, 2022
“Art/Writing,” Eulipion Outpost, July 2, 2022
“Carbo, Tariman pen verses of life; 67 Poets Write Pink” by Jenny Ortuoste, Manila Standard, May 22, 2022
Review of HUMANITY, Vol. 1 edited by Eileen Tabios, TAMBARA: A JOURNAL ON THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, Volume 35, Issue No.1 (2018 [rel. 2022]), pp. 81-84.
“First Fil-Am Poet Laureate in San Mateo County Named” by Rommel Conclara, ABS-CBN News, March 10, 2022
“Q&A Featuring DoveLion,” AC Books, Spring 2022
“And Now We Have Pink Poetry!” by Alfred A. Yuson, Philippine Star, Feb. 7, 2021
“Flippin’: Who Gets to tell the Stories of America” by Vina Orden, The Margins, Dec. 13, 2021
“Tabios’ fairy tale for our times” by Eunice Barbara C. Novio, Inquirer, July 2, 2021
“What To Read When You Want To Celebrate APIA Heritage Month,” The Editors of RUMPUS, May 14, 2021
“Napa Poets – Poetry Month 2021,” LibGuides at Napa Valley College, April 2021
“Eileen R. Tabios: From Poet to Novelist” by Leny Mendoza Strobel, Positively Filipino, March 16, 2021
“Eileen Tabios: From Barnard to hay(na)ku: biographical blog post about Eileen Tabios, Class of 1982” by Sarah Barlow-Ochshorn and Jenna Jaquez, Barnard Archives and Special Collections, May 27, 2020
Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia and Beyond (Norton), A Pedagogical Website
Eileen R. Tabios at Poetry Foundation (text slightly outdated)
“Filipino/a/* American History Month Reading List” by Vina Orden at Lift Up podcast, Oct. 19, 2020
“Fil-Am’s poetry in the time of Covid gets Thai translation” by Eunice Barbara C. Novio, Inquirer.net, September 1, 2020
“A Duty to Remember Better” by Renato Redentor Constantino, ABS-CBN News, July 20, 2020
“Fil-Am publishing house releases short story and poetry collections” by Walter Ang, Inquirer, April 8, 2020
“A day in the life, in the Age of COVID-19, Part 1” by Luis H. Francia, Inquirer, March 25, 2020
“Review of Leny Strobel Mendoza’s Poetry of Decolonization” by Christopher Bowers, Racial Justice Allies, Jan. 15, 2020
“Onore E Rispetto Per Le Donne Filippine, Il Cui Femminismo È Pura Poesia Di Resistenza” by Elisabetta Moro, ELLE magazine, Italy, Oct. 25, 2019 (English translation HERE)
“12 Small/Indie Press Authors to Read for Filipinx-American History Month” by Barbara Jane Reyes, Oct. 15, 2019
“Seen by your fingertips: Queen Mob’s Tea House and Berfrois” by Leon Craig, The London Magazine, Sept. 17, 2019
“Reading List: July/August 2019” by Holly Amos, Poetry’s Editors’ Blog, August 2019
“A 20-year-old collectible” by Alfred A. Yuson, Philstar.com, Aug. 5, 2019
“GLIMPSES: A Poetic Memoir Through the MDR Generator” by Jon Melegrito, MANILA MAIL, July 27, 2019
“Humanity: An Anthology of Writing” by Neil Leadbeater, The Ugly Writers, July 26, 2019
“Just try writing” by Vivian Blevins, The Daily Advocate, April 3, 2019
“World Poetry Day: Top 10 Filipino Poets Who Are Global In Their Own Accord,” League Online News, March 21, 2019
“A View From the Easel,” Hyperallergic, March 8, 2019
“Paloma Press and Fil-Am literature” by Jenny Ortuoste, Manila Standard, March 3, 2019
“Philippine fiction in English is in good hands” by Alfred Yuson, PhilStar Global, Feb. 11, 2019
“New gallery in California celebrates Filipino art” by Walter Ang, Inquirer, Nov. 14, 2018
Featured Author on “Travel Art TV,” Episode 2, by Carolyn Gutierrez-Abangan, May 25, 2018. (GNN TV 44 FB Page, travelarttv, & GNN TV 44 Cable channel. Archived on travelarttv/YouTUBE channel, about 50.0)
“The poetry form ‘Hay(na)ku’ on its 15th birthday,” The FilAm Magazine, April 15, 2018
“Dragons & Rayguns,” Vince Gotera’s Introduction to Star*Line, Spring 2018
“Hay(na)ku/Sci(na)ku–Six-Word Poetry” by Lauren McBride, Galatea Resurrects, March 9, 2018
“Book on Haiku launched in Angeles City” by Ian Ocampo Flora, SunStar Pampanga, Jan. 14, 2018
“Looking Back at 2017 (12 most read interviews)”, Speaking of Marvels, Jan. 1, 2018
“Words, seasonal & unseasoned” by Alfred A. Yuson, The Philippine Star, Dec. 25, 2017
“Books by Filipino Americans for Gift Giving” by Cecilia Manguerra-Brainard, Positively Filipino, Dec. 13, 2017
“If Water Is the New Bridge: A TransPacific Poetics” by Mia Ayumi Malhotra, HYPHEN, Dec. 8, 2017
“Resistance by Poetry Power” by Patrick A. Howell, Huffington Post, Nov. 29, 2017
“Book with 60 Filipino artists to be published in 2018,” INQUIRER, Nov. 29, 2017
“40 Filipino/American Novelists, Short Story Writers and Poets to Continue Reading Long After Filipino American History Month Ends,” Magkwento, Oct. 30, 2017
“FilAm Poets Meet on a LitCrawl” by Jenny Ortuoste, The Manila Standard, Oct. 22, 2017
Review of A Transpacific Poetics by Owen Bullock at Cordite Poetry Review, Oct. 10, 2017
“Special Feature: Eileen R. Tabios” at Otoliths 44, Southern Summer 2017, editor Mark Young
“Poesia anti Trump” at Serena Piccoli, Aug. 18, 2017
“For APIA Heritage Month: A List” by Barbara Jane Reyes, May 1, 2017
“Does it Matter if Trump Doesn’t Read Your Protest Poetry?” by Jonathan Curiel, KQED Arts, April 20, 2017
“Exhibition to launch first directory of Fil-Am Artists” by Walter Ang, Inquirer, April 19, 2017
“Locofo Chaps: 100 Poetry Chapbooks Against Trump” at Lagan Online, March 14, 2017
“Pilipinx poetry about ‘punyetang’ politics” by Jenny Ortuoste, The Manila Standard, Jan. 29, 2017
“Filipina American Literature Recommendations,” BarbaraJaneReyes.com, Oct. 30, 2016
“Anthologizing the Filipino Experience in America” by Libay Linsangan Cantor, Bookwatch (The Official Publication of the National Development Board), Philippines, Vol. 20. No. 3, 2016
“Voices of Bettering American Poetry 2015” by Melissa Studdard, VIDA, Oct. 4, 2016
“Celebrating Banned Books Week 2016,” Lantern Review, Sept. 26, 2016
“Why Did You Start a Publishing House? Eileen Tabios of Meritage Press Answers,” TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD Blog, June 7, 2016
“Chromatext revisited” by Jenny Ortuoste, The Standard, Jan. 14, 2016
“Setting Up ‘Chromatext Rebooted'” by Alfred A. Yuson, The Philippine Star, Nov. 9, 2015
“Third Fil-Am International Book Fest Inspires Literature Lovers” by Mila de Guzman, Philippine Inquirer, Oct. 17, 2015
“In our own write” by Luis H. Francia, Philippine Inquirer.net, Oct. 14, 2015
“10 Contemporary Filipina Authors You Absolutely Should Be Reading,” FilipiKnow, Sept. 2, 2015
“Poetry Slam Invites Creativity, Confessions” by Samie Hartley, Napa Valley Register, April 30, 2015
“Chromatext Rebooted” by Alfred A. Yuson, The Philippine Star, April 13, 2015
“Lines of Sight: Visual Art in Asian American Poetry / The Work of Nine Ekphrastic Poets” by Michael Leong, THE MARGINS / Asian American Writers Workshop, March 3, 2015
“My Daughter Eileen: A Story of Respect” by Beatriz Tilan Tabios, Our Own Voice, January 2015
“How a Manilena Learned a Language” by Aileen Ibardaloza-Cassinetto, Our Own Voice, January 2015
“Galatea Resurrects #23” by Jean Vengua, LOCAL NOMAD, Dec. 10, 2014
“5 Day Trip. Day 2” by Rosemary Griggs, The Best American Poetry Blog, Nov. 4, 2014
“Is Yellow Black or White?” literary exhibit curated by Sheila Bare at The Sitting Room, Santa Rosa, CA, 2014
“Eileen R. Tabios,” Poetry Foundation
“5 Pinay Writers You Need to Check Out (women’s herstory month)” at Sampaguita Girl, March 18, 2014
”CUT” by Timo Tuhkanen, December 2013
“Read All About It” by Rich Forestano, New Hyde Park Illustrated, April 24, 2013
“Dear Filipino Immigrants Who Will One Day Read Our Books” by Bino A. Realuyo, Huffington Post, April 10, 2013
“What is the State of American Poetry? Leading American Poets Speak,” by Anis Shivani, Huffington Post, Sept. 11, 2010
“Shout Out: Eileen Tabios, Poet-Editor Issue at Otoliths” by Barbara Jane Reyes, Poetry Foundation/Harriet, April 30, 2010
“In Praise of the Filipino Hustle” by Barbara Jane Reyes, Poetry Foundation
“Indie Publishing: Two Questions and Several Answers” by Barbara Jane Reyes, Poetry Foundation
“Eileen Tabios” by Alan Baker, LITTERBUG, April 9, 2010
“Eileen Tabios: A Lady of Words,” 8 Red Gates: Generating an Asian Renaissance
“New Filipiniana Titles” by Alfred Yuson, The Philippine Star, Nov. 1, 2010
“Susan Gevirtz and Eileen Tabios: Starry Messengers, Tornadoes, and the Children Who Pop Up” by Robin Tremblay-McGaw, X POETICS, MAY 14, 2010
“Small Press Traffic Reading Report” by Jai Arun Ravine, Kelsey Street Press Blog, May 12, 2010
“REMIX: Santiago Bose Exhibition” by Alfred Yuson, The Philippine Star, March. 1, 2010
“Word Eating Bird” by Susie DeFord (Interview with Kristin Naca), BOMB Magazine, Nov. 16, 2009
“Viva Lamantia! (His Birthday, 2009)” by Steven Fama at the glade of theoric ornithich hermetica, Oct. 23, 2009
“Blogs, Boutiques and the Public Square” by Timothy Yu, paper for the “Markets: From the Bazaar to eBay” conference, University of Toronto’s Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies, March 2008
“Review: A Slice of Cherry Pie, Ivy Alvarez editor” by Tim Thorne, Walleah Press, 2008
“On Feminism, Women of Color, Poetics and Reticence: Some Considerations” by Barbara Jane Reyes, INN OTHER WORDS, NOVEMBER 2007
“Eileen Tabios, Poet and Writer” by Rochita Loenen Ruiz, Munting Nayon (Netherlands), February 2006
“On Eileen Tabios” by Roger Pao, Asian-American Poetry and Other Artistic Meanderings, Dec. 4, 2005
“Surveying Recent Asian American Literary Anthologies” by Shin Yu Pai, HYPHEN, Summer 2005
“Gabriela Silang Speaks” by Chris Murray, E-Po, 2004
“Review of FILIPINO WOMEN WRITERS IN ENGLISH: THEIR STORY: 1905-2002 (Ed. Edna Zapanta-Manlapaz)” by Susan Evangelista, Philippine Studies, Second Quarter 2004
[Untitled] by Ron Silliman, Ron Silliman Blog, June 19, 2003
“A New Twist to Filipino American Decolonization: Eileen Tabios’s Poetry” by Leny M. Strobel, TOMAS (University of Santo Tomas for Creative Writing and Studies) and README
REVIEWS OF EDITED OR CURATED ANTHOLOGIES
(Hay(na)ku reviews under HAY(NA)KU)
VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA: A Storm of Filipino Poets
This is a book about a destructive typhoon named Yolanda, or Haiyan, which caused massive damage to the Philippines in November, 2013. This is a sprawling book of poems about family, loss, art, economy, greed, love, grief, theft, militarism, colonialism, typhoon tourism, deforestation, stray dogs, survivors, rubble, donations, propaganda, looting, journalists, dead children, helicopters, rain, disembowelment, black bags, conquerors, catastrophe, “the republic of the drowned” (Luisa A. Igloria). This is a book in English, Filipino, Cebuano, Waray, Hiligaynon, Bisaya. This is a book by poets who teach, poets who study, a poet who drives a tricycle for a living, poets who work for NGOs, poets who are school children. This is a book by 133 Filipino poets who live in the Philippines, the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, South Africa, elsewhere. What is diaspora but the aftermath of storm? All profits from this book will be donated to relief organizations. “Aid is art,” writes Simeon Dumdum, Jr. Now art will aid survivors of the storm.
—Susan M. Schultz (Advance Words)
“Notes on VERSES TYPHOON YOLANDA” by Aileen Ibardaloza, Galatea Resurrects #22 (A Poetry Engagement), June 2014
“Typhoon Yolanda and the Art of Call-and-Response” by Melissa Sipin, HYPHEN, June 26, 2014
“Verses Typhoon Yolanda” by Jenny Ortuoste, Manila Standard Today, May 22, 2014
Mini-Review by Vince Gotera, North American Review, Spring 2014
“All Hail to Those Who Hold Up Half of Heaven” by Luis H. Francia, Philippine Inquirer, May 19, 2014
PINOY POETICS: A Collection of Autobiographical and Critical Essays on Filipino and Filipino-American Poetics
“Review of PINOY POETICS” by Veronica Montes, Moria Poetry, Fall 2010/Winter 2011
“Pinoy Poetics” by Alan Baker, LITTERBUG, March 25, 2007
“Review of PINOY POETICS” by Rochita Loenen Ruiz, Galatea Resurrects #2 (A Poetry Engagement), May 2006
“Review of PINOY POETICS” by Abigail Licad, Galatea Resurrects #1 (A Poetry Engagement), March 2006
“The Poetics of Being Pinoy” by Juaniyo Arcellana, The Philippine Star, Oct. 18, 2004
“Filipino Poetics” by Cirilo Bautista, Philippine Panorama, Sept. 12, 2004
BABAYLAN: An Anthology of Filipina and Filipina American Writers
(edited with Nick Carbo)
Babaylan brings to the concert halls of the United States a full-bodied chorus of Filipino women’s voices. Welcome the songs and stories of these women with applause. Bravo!
—Edna Zapanta-Manlapaz (Advance Words)
This collection of work by Filipina writers insipres with passion, delights with lush imagery and sound, and swells with unbridled language. Brave and beautiful, these many-voiced, multifaceted authors gave readers the first comprehensive look at a literary culture that has been ignored for far too long.
—Allison Joseph (Advance Words)
These are the stories and moments of women—some heartbreaking, some funny, all true to the heart. And the Phillipines is always present: as a landscape, memory, ghost. Babaylan is a feast for the senses, so eat your fill.
—Andrea Louie (Advance Words)
In their variety, the fiction, poetry, and poetry in translation included in this exciting new anthology show the transitory nature of the literature of a people who live at the crossroads, on two continents. Here over 60 women writers evidence the rectitude of the Catholic Spanish past, Malay roots, and the steady, century-long revolutionary wind of American influence. As the storm of modernity oxygenates, it also mows down custom and tradition and unleashes cries against imperialism, odes to migration, and tales of struggle among social classes. Paradoxically, this savage wind also points women in the direction of freedom. The editors, both poets and editors of other collections, include an excellent summary of the literature of Filipinas and an equally good bibliography that lists literary criticism, Internet resources, and other anthologies and works of Filipino writing. Highly recommended for high schools with Filipino students and for larger public and all academic libraries.
—Rene Perez-Lopez, Library Journal, 2000
THE ANCHORED ANGEL: Selected Writings by Jose Garcia Villa
The Anchored Angel is a marvelous reintroduction to the work of one of the greatest pioneers of Asian American literature. For Jose Garcia Villa was our bitter, narcissistic angel of both late Modernism and early post-colonialism, an inventive, luminous intelligence full of sweet song and possessed of an unforgettably unique, bilious presence of a legend. Like the Cesar Vallejo of Trilce, Villa could be abstract, elusive, eccentric, yet capable of a lyric passion so intense, both heart and throat ache to intone his strophes. Editor Eileen Tabios and the contributing essayists have accomplished a literary treasure, an archive, and a clear-eyed act of literary homage to an important figure in twentieth-century world poetry.
—Garrett Hongo (Advance Words)
“ANCHORED ANGEL” by Jean Vengua Gier, OurOwnVoice (Sept. 2001), Pacific Reader Literary Supplement (1999), and Poetry Flash (2001)
On BLACK LIGHTNING: Poetry-in-Progress
Here 14 Asian American poets display the process of their poems and discuss their sources of inspiration, which include paintings, readings, personal encounters, countries of origin, and the sight of “dog piss.” Tabios (poet and editor of the Asian Pacific American Journal) then presents drafts of poems from early stages through numerous alterations, deletions (sometimes entire pages), and additions, all with explanations. This makes for slow reading but engrossing revelations and ultimately rewarding insights into the birth of a poem. Tabios’s skillful interviews help the poets reveal their modus operandi. That the writers are Asian American hardly matters; this is a valuable source for poets, aspiring poets, and poetry-lovers. Recommended for creative writing collections.
—Kitty Chen Dean, Library Journal, 1998
‘What books do you turn to for guidance? And what books are you missing?” by Catherine Buni, THE WRITER, January 6, 2014
Black Lightning: Poetry in Progress, Asian American Writers Workshop, edited by Eileen Tabios.
This amazing collection presents a fascinatingly intimate look into the creative processes and artistic concerns of fourteen prominent Asian American poets. Not only does this anthology reveal the breathtaking diversity transpiring in contemporary Asian American poetry, it also provides the reader with insight into the complexity and sophistication of Asian American literary criticism as emerging from within the ranks of Asian American writers themselves. Furthermore, ethnicity aside, Black Lightning is an inspiring statement on poetics that is a must-have in the collection of any poet, poetry lover, workshop instructor, and/or student of poetry.
—Moonrabbit Blues Bookstore
Eileen R. Tabios 