ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Mae
Respicio Koerner
is a Los
Angeles-based
writer and a
native of
Stockton,
California,
which was home
to the largest
group of
Filipinos
outside of the
Philippines in
the 1930s -
1940s and today
still houses a
vibrant Fil-Am
community.
As a
second-generation
Filipina
American, Mae
grew up
performing
traditional folk
dances in
Filipino dance
troupes and
listening to
stories of “the
old country”
passed down by
elders during
family parties.
This project
shares a few of
the literally
thousands of
Filipino
American voices
in Los Angeles.
She hopes that
the book will
inspire readers
to continue
exploring their
own family’s
personal
narrative, as
well as to
further explore
their culture’s
history and
realize the
importance of
preserving it
within the
larger fabric of
American
history.
Mae is the
recipient of a PEN Rosenthal
Emerging Voices
Fellowship in
creative writing
and a Books for
Life Foundation
New Voices in
Literature
Award. She is
currently at
work on her
first novel.
Her latest work
will be
published in the
upcoming book, The
Bigger the
Better the
Tighter the
Sweater: Twenty
Funny Women on
Beauty, Body
Image, and Other
Hazards of Being
Female
(Seal
Press, June 2007).
