Returning to My Father's Kitchen bookcover

Returning to My Father's Kitchen

Essays
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Description

A young Filipino writer's odyssey toward home, in the wake of the loss of her poet father

Feeling untethered after her beloved poet father passes away while she is living abroad, Monica Macansantos decides to return to the Philippines to regain her bearings. But with her father gone and her adult life rooted in the United States and New Zealand, can the land of her birth still serve as a place of healing?

In fifteen richly felt essays, Macansantos considers her family's history in the Philippines, her own experiences as an exile, and the parent who was the heart of her family's kitchen, whether standing at the stove to prepare dinner or sitting at the table to scribble in his notebook. Macansantos finds herself remaking her father's chicken adobo, but also closely rereading his poems. As she reckons with his identity as an artist, she also comes into her own as a writer, and she invites us to consider whether it is possible to carry our homes with us wherever we go.

Product Details

PublisherCurbstone Press
Publish DateMay 15, 2025
Pages165
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9780810148390
Dimensions8.9 X 6.0 X 0.7 inches | 0.6 pounds

About the Author

MONICA MACANSANTOS is the author of the story collection Love and Other Rituals, and her work has appeared in Colorado Review, The Hopkins Review, Bennington Review, and Lit Hub, among others. She is a 2024-2025 Shearing Fellow with the Black Mountain Institute.

Reviews

​"Returning to My Father's Kitchen is both a revealing portrait of this Filipino author's life and a collection of flavorful, richly satisfying prose--less a memoir, more of a feast." --Las Vegas Weekly

​"Fifteen richly textured essays . . . at once a coming of age of a writer and a foray into what it means to live in other people's imaginings of being Filipino." --Electric Literature

​"Personal yet strongly thematic, exploring subjects such as navigating grief and disconnections from culture, and how to resist the deliberate and casual cruelties others can inflict. I love the clarity, maturity and fierce intelligence in [Macansantos's] writing. Essay fans should snap this up." --​Radio New Zealand

​"Every essay is a gem, and I could easily write about each piece. By the time readers get to the closing piece, they will feel as if they have gotten to know Francis-his dreams for his daughter and for his writing, his love for his wife and daughter, his passion for cooking and nature, his belief in truth and justice." --​Positively Filipino

"What Monica taps into is the long arm of family stretched around us. The way our parents form us and then we leave them. And then they leave us. Monica writes about what remains. This is a beautiful collection that resonates with family, memory, love and longing." --Kim Foster, James Beard-award winning author of The Meth Lunches: Food and Longing in an American City

"Returning to My Father's Kitchen is about what is left behind--the ghosts, apparitions, and hauntings of people. This book is bold and sharply observed, giving voice to those lost in the margins of literature. Intimate and candid, any reader would feel solace in Macansantos's company." --Grace Talusan, author of The Body Papers: A Memoir

"A book about getting knocked around and the supernatural strength it takes to get back up again. A portrait of the artist as sous chef to a dearly departed dad, tango-dancing necromancer, and--most deliciously--world-class literary bruiser. Sudden and mysterious as a perfectly executed recipe, or grief itself. Unmistakably magical." --Greg Marshall, author of Leg


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