Here's one of the actual gas masks referenced in my essay, which to my surprise not only survived my family’s migration to Canada decades ago but had been stored this whole time in, of all places, the garage of my parents’ house in suburban Oakville.

The launch event Monday night at Flying Books was an absolute blast, with beautiful readings by Josiah Nelson and David Chariandy & wonderful emceeing by publisher Laurie Graham (I snuck in a reading too :)). Thank you to everyone who came out and supported!

Thrilled that my piece appears alongside those written by so many literary luminaries, the brightest of the bright, several of my personal writing heroes. Thank you to the @brickliterary.bsky.social team that helped shape this piece, helped hone its raw edges.

Grateful beyond words that my essay about living in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War was selected for Brick 116, which is now out in the world!

Thank you @ontarioarts.bsky.social for awarding me a grant through the Recommender Grants For Writers program!

Sink, South of France, August 2024. #photography

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

(4/20): The Good Immigrant, edited by Nikesh Shukla and Chimene Suleyman

#Books #BookSky #BookSky #BookChallenge

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

(3/20): Moby Dick, by Herman Melville

#Books #BookSky #BookSky #BookChallenge

Travis : [recording on a cassette] I'm afraid of walking away again. I'm afraid of what I might find. But I'm even more afraid of not facing this fear. I love you Hunter. I love you more than my life.

—Paris, Texas (1984) dir. Wim Wenders

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

(2/20): Afterparties: Stories, by Anthony Veasna So

#Books #BookSky #BookSky #BookChallenge

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

(1/20): One Ring Circus: Dispatches From The World Of Boxing, by Katherine Dunn

#Books #BookSky #BookSky #BookChallenge

Wowowow. Every page, every paragraph a gem. 45 pages in, and already I don't want it to end. Laugh out loud funny, gut wrenchingly sad, all the feels. Thank you @tkiramadden.bsky.social for writing this.

Just saw this. Highly recommend. More than a sports doc.

Last January, I wrote an essay about going back to the Philippines for a wedding, my obsession with cameras, and my ruminations on returning to my motherland. A year later, my essay somehow found its way into this beautiful anthology.

All this to say: keep writing, friends. Your day will come too.