Salaysay: Stories in celebration of Filipino American History Month

These readers are gathering to fundraise for Tanggol Migrante Movement, an alliance of organizations dedicated to defending Filipino migrants across the U.S. Suggested donation is $10 upon entry via cash or venmo.

There will also be a book raffle featuring titles from Filipino American authors, selected by lead bookseller Ienna! Raffle tickets cost $5 each, available for purchase at the event.

Ienna Fernandez is a bookseller in Brooklyn five days a week, and a community organizer for immigrant justice during the rest. They're Filipino Californian, and their people's history of art-making and community-building informs their everyday life—from the books they read to the prose they write, and more.

Mike Legaspi is a writer and community organizer with Migrante New York, Malaya New York, and other allied organizations. Growing up among the tall grass of Laguna province in the Philippines, he landed in Queens, New York at the age of 14 and began organizing with the Philippine national-democratic movement at 19. His favorite flower is the gumamela.

Margo Rosales is a Filipino American community organizer with Malaya Movement, an international organization advocating for democracy, sovereignty and human rights for the Filipino people. Her art is co-created with community members as a means to process and build resolve to resist against the escalating military, political, economic and climate crises that besiege Filipinos all over the world. She is based in Little Manila, Queens on Lenapehoking land.

Maria Rubio is a mom, writer, performance artist, community organizer, and registered nurse who was born and raised in the 718. Her life's work centers the liberation of all people, and she is a proud member of GABRIELA NY, a militant women's organization that fights for the sovereignty of Filipinos.

Dana Ysabel is a community organizer, poet, and public librarian living in Brooklyn. Their work is situated in the struggle against imperialism. They have received fellowships at the Poetry Project and Brooklyn Poets, and their work has appeared or is forthcoming in Apogee, Lenticular, and elsewhere. Born in Manila, they have lived by the ocean their entire life.

Tanggol Migrante Movement is an alliance of organizations from across the U.S. dedicated to defending and protecting Filipinos facing attacks under the Trump administration and beyond. The alliance engages in collective action in various ways: joint education, resource sharing, legal and health services, fundraising, advocacy work, and building public pressure to push forward the demands of the most impacted. Find out more at tanggolmigrante.org.

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