The Poeta en San Francisco Publication Fund

 Poeta en San Francisco (Tinfish Press, 2005) was written by Barbara Jane Reyes, from the POV of shapeshifting young Pinays bearing witness to the complex history of Filipinos here - both street-level and bookish - our legacies of gendered and racialized violences, wars, survival, resistances, and transformations. Poeta sees our historically erased transnational and diasporic, multilingual, multiracial Filipina/o/x communities and families, and affirms the importance of rigorous art making in our movements. 

Barbara Jane Reyes and Oscar Bermeo have created this fund to support the publication of Bay Area Filipina/o/x writers whose full-length works are based in this history and community.

*We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. 

WELGA: A Filipino American Playwright's Journey written by award-winning Conrad A. Panganiban invites the reader to join the voyage of a dutiful U.S. Navy Veteran immigrant son from digital programmer to riding the waves of an analogue current in community through theatre. From writing dumb love songs in high school in a small Central California town to "discovering" his cultural identity by writing a PCN in the 1990s to crafting the full-length drama, Daryo's All-American Diner, to address Anti-Asian Hate crimes during the COVID Pandemic which won 2023 Best New Play by the Chicago Reader, Mr. Panganiban recounts how he tries to define what being a Filipino American Playwright is. Through his Northern California centered-plays included in this book: Standing Above Pajaro, Holed Up At The Delta, Remembering Them, Inay's Wedding Dress, and WELGA, Mr. Panganiban shares his memories, processes, and thoughts that went into each play and how each of them was used as a foundation in the neverending quest to become a better storyteller for the Filipina/o/x American Community.

Conrad A. Panganiban (he/him/his) is an award-winning Filipino American playwright representing the San Francisco Bay Area. His plays include Daryo’s All-American Diner, Welga, and River’s Message. Conrad’s work has been produced by Bindlestiff Studio, The Chikahan Company, CIRCA Pintig, the MaArte Theatre Collective, and CATS (Contemporary Asian Theatre Scene). Awards include Best Play of 2023, Daryo’s All-American Diner (BroadwayWorldAwards Chicago), Best New Play, Daryo’s All-American Diner (Chicago Reader, Best of 2023), Susan Fairbrook Playwright Fund Awardee (TheatreWorks Silicon Valley), 2023 New Voices in Comedy Writing Fellowship (Killing My Lobster), James Milton Highsmith Award Winner (SFSU), National Ten-Minute Play Festival Finalist (Actors Theatre of Louisville), and Bay Area Playwrights Festival Semi-Finalist (Playwrights Foundation). Resident Artist: Bindlestiff Studio. Member: Dramatist Guild of America, and Theatre Bay Area. MFA, San Francisco State University. @consplayspace

If you would like to contribute to the Poeta en San Francisco Fund, click on the Donate button below. Add note: Poeta en SF. Your tax deductible donation will go towards book production and to authors' honorariums.