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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay

@missmacansantos.bsky.social
2.5K followers 1.4K following 277 posts

Shearing Fellow, Black Mountain Institute, 2024-25. Author of RETURNING TO MY FATHER'S KITCHEN: ESSAYS (forthcoming from Northwestern University Press) and LOVE AND OTHER RITUALS: STORIES. Work in Colorado Review, The Hopkins Review, Bennington Review, etc

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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
In case you missed it, here's my essay about living in Las Vegas in the lead up to the US presidential elections, and witnessing the promises (and deceptions) of the American Dream, for @electricliterature.com
electricliterature.com
Reckoning with the American Dream in Las Vegas - Electric Literature
Based on what America has provided a foreigner like me, I want to believe this country can shine its grace on those who have rarely felt it
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Thanks so much to @electricliterature.com and to Meredith Talusan for publishing my essay about living in Las Vegas in the lead-up to the US presidential elections, while looking at the promises (and deceptions) of the American Dream.
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Thanks so much to @electricliterature.com and to Meredith Talusan for publishing my essay about living in Las Vegas in the lead-up to the US presidential elections, while looking at the promises (and deceptions) of the American Dream.
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
My diss track for racist New Zealanders and Karori Karens seems to have taken off in New Zealand while ruffling some feathers, and so I'm sharing it again because we troll like that
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
People usually see New Zealand as this tolerant, liberal utopia, and although it has great qualities, it also has a hard time dealing with racism and xenophobia. Thankfully, Newsroom NZ ran an excerpt from my latest book, about the racist landlady from hell. newsroom.co.nz/2025/07/28/a...
newsroom.co.nz
An incident in Karori
An author's deeply unhappy experience in the Wellington suburb of Karori
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
People usually see New Zealand as this tolerant, liberal utopia, and although it has great qualities, it also has a hard time dealing with racism and xenophobia. Thankfully, Newsroom NZ ran an excerpt from my latest book, about the racist landlady from hell. newsroom.co.nz/2025/07/28/a...
newsroom.co.nz
An incident in Karori
An author's deeply unhappy experience in the Wellington suburb of Karori
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
In honor of the late Jo Lou, deputy editor at @electricliterature.com, who opened doors for me when I first pitched an article to her in 2021, setting into motion a years long collaboration that resulted in this interview. I was a complete stranger to her, and yet she was so kind.
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
I'm back with an interview with Liminal Magazine in Australia! We talked about the opportunities nonfiction preset to turn inwards, the roles played by fiction and nonfiction in depicting the immigrant experience, and how to determine when a project is finished. www.liminalmag.com/5-questions/...
liminalmag.com
5 Questions with Monica Macansantos — LIMINAL
“I imagine my published stories and essays having their own lives in the world, and their own encounters with discerning and generous readers that enable them to grow and take on new meanings. This is...
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
I'm back with an interview with Liminal Magazine in Australia! We talked about the opportunities nonfiction preset to turn inwards, the roles played by fiction and nonfiction in depicting the immigrant experience, and how to determine when a project is finished. www.liminalmag.com/5-questions/...
liminalmag.com
5 Questions with Monica Macansantos — LIMINAL
“I imagine my published stories and essays having their own lives in the world, and their own encounters with discerning and generous readers that enable them to grow and take on new meanings. This is...
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
In case you were planning to buy my book, Book People in Austin has 14 SIGNED copies! They also deliver to my knowledge. bookpeople.com/book/9780810...
bookpeople.com
Returning to My Father's Kitchen: Essays
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 ...
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
It's not often that I see reading lists about Filipino fathers, which is why I made this list to celebrate my book's release for @electricliterature.com! electricliterature.com/9-books-abou...
electricliterature.com
9 Books About Filipino Fathers - Electric Literature
These complex, layered characters invite us to more closely examine Filipino masculinity
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
So happy to hear my book being reviewed on Radio New Zealand! Considering how hard it is to get a book reviewed, and to get my book in the hands of Kiwi readers while living outside New Zealand, it's a huge win for me. www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...
rnz.co.nz
Book Critic
Catherine Robertson joined Jesse to chat about some books that she's been really looking forward to reading. Wonderland by Tracy Farr (The Cuba Press) Returning To My Father's Kitchen by Monica Macans...
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Electric Literature @electricliterature.com · 19/05/2025
“A lot of immigrants become convinced of their smallness without being fully conscious of it, and I learned that to keep my self worth intact, I had to fight back.”
buff.ly
How a Filipino Poet’s Kitchen Became His Daughter’s Writing Desk - Electric Literature
Monica Macansantos traces memory, legacy, and identity through the food her father left behind
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
And oh yes I also wrote this for the @nupress.bsky.social blog, about how I wove my late father's poetry into my work as an act of collaboration across the distances for my essay collection, Returning to My Father's Kitchen. nupress.northwestern.edu/blog/2025/05...
nupress.northwestern.edu
Writing As Collaboration: On Weaving My Late Father's Poems into My Work by Monica Macansantos | Northwestern University Press
When I’m asked what provided me with the impetus for writing an entire collection of essays, the most convenient explanation I can come up with is my
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
At a low point in my life, I met Paul Beatty at the Auckland Writer's Festival. Our conversation at his signing table changed my life. I'm glad I stuck around long enough to write about it for the @writersdigest.bsky.social. www.writersdigest.com/and-now-i-kn...
writersdigest.com
And Now, I Know: Learning to Take Up Space as a Writer
Author Monica Macansantos shares how an interaction with an award-winning author helped give her the confidence to take up space as a writer.
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
At a low point in my life, I met Paul Beatty at the Auckland Writer's Festival. Our conversation at his signing table changed my life. I'm glad I stuck around long enough to write about it for the @writersdigest.bsky.social. www.writersdigest.com/and-now-i-kn...
writersdigest.com
And Now, I Know: Learning to Take Up Space as a Writer
Author Monica Macansantos shares how an interaction with an award-winning author helped give her the confidence to take up space as a writer.
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Cherry Lou Sy @cherrylousy.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Congrats on a job well done! Happy pub day @missmacansantos.bsky.social !
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Electric Literature @electricliterature.com · 15/05/2025
Cherry Lou Sy speaks with Monica Macansantos about her latest essay collection “Returning to My Father’s Kitchen,” the tradition of creative writing instruction in the Philippines, experiences of dislocation across countries, and what draws her to write about food, memory, and loss.
buff.ly
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Plus I have an interview about my book and my decision to return home to the Philippines after my dad died in @electricliterature.com! Grateful to @cherrylousy.bsky.social for her insightful and thoughtful questions. electricliterature.com/how-a-filipi...
electricliterature.com
How a Filipino Poet’s Kitchen Became His Daughter’s Writing Desk - Electric Literature
Monica Macansantos traces memory, legacy, and identity through the food her father left behind
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
To celebrate my book's release today, @literaryhub.bsky.social ran my essay about how my father and I got our literary education in the Philippines from used bookstores. Hoping this gives joy to second hand book lovers! lithub.com/monica-macan...
lithub.com
Monica Macansantos on Finding Her Voice and Reuniting with Her Father Through Used Books
When I was growing up in the Philippines, our small resort town had none of the gleaming bookstores I’d later encounter as a graduate student in America, whose tall shelves containing crisp new rel…
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Jeremy C. Shipp @jeremycshipp.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Writers and artists: reply with a link to one of your works. And feel free to tell us about it. Everyone: let's check through the replies and buy some creations and support some creators.
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
I'm part of this brilliance in case you're coming to AWP!
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Gareth L. Powell / G.L. Powell @garethlpowell.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
One thing about working in an indie bookstore is that I see how thin their margins are. Always shop locally when you can. Keep local businesses alive, and keep the money in your community.
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
FML Zuckerberg pirated my short story to train Meta's AI program. Who else is in a class action-y mode
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
both of my published books are in here and i am in a class action-y mood today
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
Really good biko for breakfast, thanks to Valerio's in Las Vegas!
Picture of brown sticky rice cake topped with fried coconut shavings and paired with coffee
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
One of my favorite quotes from my recent short story in @riverstyxmag.bsky.social. To read more, click here: www.riverstyx.org/proof-blog/l...
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
If you were planning on pre-ordering my book, here's another sale! They ship to anywhere in the world! Click here to order: nupress.northwestern.edu/978081014839...
25% off with code: THAW, now through March 15 (with cover image of "Returning to My Father's Kitchen: Essays)
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
There isn't that much that has been written about Filipino-New Zealanders, which is why I'm proud of this short story that's now free to read on @riverstyxmag.bsky.social! Follow the story of a young Filipina grappling with religious trauma in Aotearoa NZ. www.riverstyx.org/proof-blog/l...
riverstyx.org
Leaving God on Cuba Street by Monica Macansantos — River Styx Magazine
A short story by Monica Macansantos.
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Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 04/03/2025
i just think that it's a good idea, before you explain something to someone else, to be sure that they don't understand the thing and that you do
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The Rude Pundit @rudepundit.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Can we also declare that "neoliberalism" is a meaningless word, having been used to death by a certain contingent of Leftier Than Thou assholes to mean "stuff I don't like"?
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Melissa Jo Peltier @melissjpeltier.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Please give. Right now is CRUCIAL!
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
I'll be co-hosting this event with Oliver de la Paz, National Book Award-longlisted author of The Diaspora Sonnets as well as six other collections of poetry. If you're in Vegas, or know someone in Vegas who loves poetry, please check out this free event! blackmountaininstitute.org/event/an-eve...
blackmountaininstitute.org
An Evening with Oliver de la Paz and Monica Macansantos - Black Mountain Institute
Join BMI for a reading and conversation with poet Oliver de la Paz, author of The Diaspora Sonnets, with 2024-25 Shearing Fellow Monica Macansantos. Oliver de la Paz is the author and editor of severa...
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The Xylom @thexylom.com · 28/02/2025
Hey y'all! 👋🏽 We are the only Asian American-run news outlet dedicated to science, climate, and environmental coverage. We've never been more proud of our decision to quit Twitter/X, thanks to the community we've built here. Could you help us get to 15,000 followers to close out the month?
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Get newsletter: thexylom.com/subscribe
Be a sustainer: opencollective.com/thexylom#category-CONTRIBUTE
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Amidst the current shitshow, we are doing a reading series featuring Filipino authors in Las Vegas! Yes, with me as host! Joy amidst the darkness! More here: blackmountaininstitute.org/live-experie...
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Forgive me. I tried Moncrieff/Kilmartin. I got past page 50. My head was hurting from reading and re reading lines. I gave up and switched to Lydia Davis. Please tell me I made the right choice.
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
My book club homies! We talked about Oliver de la Paz's poetry
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
While the world burns, I keep writing to stay sane. I finished the draft of a new short story today, about a plane highjacking, ironically. It made me laugh, it made me cry a little. We keep moving.
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Cracking open this book to console myself as the world falls apart
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Hooray for my Shearing Fellow buddy!
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surely magazine @surelymag.bsky.social · 18/01/2025
Looking back at issue 2 of Shirley, filled with stories by Fortunato Salazar, Monica S. Macansantos, GJ Hart...
Two overlapping outlines of black circles on a white background, with black text inside the circle reading "Vanity and at the same time, Good morning! Welcome another exotic disfiguration!" — Fortunato Salazar, "House Beer #5," issue 2, 2015Two overlapping outlines of white circles on a black background, with white text inside the circle reading "The earth was moist, and I was sniffing the earth, letting my nose guide me to the answers that lay underneath the ground." — Monica S. Macansantos, "Into Lightness," issue 2, 2015Two overlapping outlines of black circles on a white background, with black text inside the circle reading "Denis feels drab next to the sign. It it hand painted and beautiful. He feels it tingle when it sees itself read." — GJ Hart, "Good Signs," issue 2, 2015
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Last day!
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
For those who were planning on pre-ordering my book: Barnes and Noble is doing a pre-order sale! Save 25% (or 35% if you're a premium member) by pre-ordering from B&N between now and February 7. www.barnesandnoble.com/w/returning-...
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
For those who were planning on pre-ordering my book: Barnes and Noble is doing a pre-order sale! Save 25% (or 35% if you're a premium member) by pre-ordering from B&N between now and February 7. www.barnesandnoble.com/w/returning-...
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charlie hensler @chaswriter.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Czeslaw Milosz "I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder."
Encounter | Czeslaw Milosz

We were riding through frozen fields in a wagon at dawn.
A red wing rose in the darkness.

And suddenly a hare ran across the road.
One of us pointed to it with his hand.

That was long ago. Today neither of them is alive,
Not the hare, nor the man who made the gesture.

O my love, where are they, where are they going
The flash of a hand, streak of movement, rustle of pebbles.
I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder.
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
I see that a few book reviewers follow me. Would you be interested in reviewing my essay collection, Returning to My Father's Kitchen, for the Adroit Journal? Because they're interested. Let me know so that I can get you a review copy! @nupress.bsky.social theadroitjournal.org/about/call-f...
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
I see that a few book reviewers follow me. Would you be interested in reviewing my essay collection, Returning to My Father's Kitchen, for the Adroit Journal? Because they're interested. Let me know so that I can get you a review copy! @nupress.bsky.social theadroitjournal.org/about/call-f...
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Monica Macansantos, alias Butchay @missmacansantos.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Dedicating my book to the father I had and the father I was given, both of whom made this book possible
Italicized and centered text that reads, "For my father, Francis C. Macansantos, and Dr. Michael Adams, my second father in Texas"
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