When Bienvenido Santos wrote his magnum opus such as “America is in the Heart” and “Scent of
Apples” in the 50’s and 60’s, the eminent writer introduced us to an America that wasn’t exactly a land of milk and honey, but rather a landscape of loneliness and discrimination.

Decades have passed since, and with technological developments such as the Internet bringing the world closer than ever before, have things changed for the Filipino writer living in America?

Almira Astudillo Gilles and Benjamin Pimentel have spent decades in the United States pursuing a writing career.

Gilles has been writing children’s books, while Pimentel worked as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle for 14 years before transferring to MarketWatch, an online news outlet. Gilles is the author of prize-winning children's book "Willie Wins", while Pimentel just recently released here in
the country "Pareng Barack: Filipinos in Obama's America".

Both Gilles and Pimentel arrived in the US as students, with every intention of coming back to the country and pursue their writing careers here. Gilles left in 1984 to pursue graduate studies
at the Michigan State University, while Pimentel, who was already working with the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), left in 1990 to take up graduate studies at the UC Berkeley
Graduate School of Journalism.

“I was looking forward to living on my own for the first time and testing my academic skills and UP education against American standards,” adds Gilles. “I had no intention of leaving the Philippines permanently; I wanted to go back after my studies.”

But their plans got sidetracked.

Gilles got married in the US and started teaching. In her 40’s, she also started writing children’s books after developing hypertension.

On the other hand, Pimentel got an internship at the San Francisco Chronicle in 1993 and stayed on as a reporter until 2007.

THE ROLE OF RACE

Gilles and Pimentel both agree that race still played a part in how their careers were shaped.

For one, Pimentel knew it was going to be tough, exciting, fun, with a bigger audience and therefore bigger expectations.

“There is little room for error in the US because the audience is more reactive,” he says.

His entry into American mainstream media, he adds, was aided as much by race politics of the time as it was by his own writing skill. “I entered the business at a time when there was still a spillover from the civil rights movement. The thing they were clamoring for was more diversity in the newsroom. There was no affirmative action but I know I benefited from earlier struggles.’’

He was also the first Filipino in the San Francisco Chronicle who could speak Tagalog well. “I think it helped that I was different,” he thinks on hindsight.

Gilles, on the other hand, says that race played a part in her career, at least for “marketing” purposes. “In the US, I’m what they call a ‘multicultural’ writer. In the Philippines, I don’t really have a label,” she says. “The ‘pond’ gets a little smaller, since there are fewer Filipino writers and the market for multicultural literature is not stable.”

Both confirm that there is an appetite in the US for writing by other cultures. “American readers are a little more receptive to multicultural things,” says Gilles. “But the American audience has not been exposed to Filipino literature as much as other cultures.”

“The world wide web has changed things with regards to diversity,” explains Pimentel. “Before, you had wires or bureaus. It was such a trip to get a copy of something like the Manila Bulletin when on a visit to the country. But now you can read it online. The web has enabled these communities
to fill in information about their own communities.”

CHANGING TIMES

Nowadays however, America’s economic situation is affecting the careers of aspiring writers in the US, Filipino or not.

“Everything is much more competitive, especially with the poor economy. I started out writing for children. Publishers look for children’s books with a long shelf life – unlike adult books which are
expected to stay in print for only a few years--and the youth market is very tough,” explains Gilles.

Pimentel, on the other hand, also confirms what most people are worried about – the slow but sure demise of the newspaper.

“It was a sad decision for me to leave (the San Francisco Chronicle). I had so many friends there and I thought I would retire there,” says Pimentel. “Our circulation during the ‘90s was 600,000 per day, and now it’s half that. Our staff went down to 200 plus from 500 people. A lot of people have been forced to leave, and it’s a painful transition for journalism in the US right now.”

As such, Pimentel has words of caution for young Filipinos looking to embark on a journalistic career in the US. “There is still an emphasis on good writing and reporting, but it’s a tricky thing because
the business model is changing,” he says. “No new business model exists that can replace that. The expectation is that news will shift online, so multimedia knowledge gives you an edge.”

But the good news is that there are some things that do remain the same, no matter what continent you’re on. “The culture of journalists is still the same. There is an emphasis in the power of
investigative journalism and the idea of the media as the watchdog. That also exists in the Philippines,” Pimentel underscores.

Gilles, on the other hand, says that being Filipino may also give an aspiring writer an edge over others who are trying to make it in the US.

“It is a very competitive market for all writers, so persist, join writing organizations, critique groups, workshops. Read everything – all genres, nationalities, topics, etc – published in the US so can you get feel the pulse of what is being published here,” she says. “For a writer of color writing about her/his culture, stick to what you know; this is your one big advantage over those who have to research rather than live it.”