Young Filipino writers’ contributions to Australian literature

By Renato Perdon
Sydney, Australia
February 2, 2015



One of them is a young writer who is emerging as a popular short story writer. He is Erwin Cabucos who occasionally contributes short stories in the pages of Bayanihan News, a Filipino community newspaper distributed Australia-wide. In 2002, Cabucos’ first anthology of short stories was launched at the NSW Writers’ Centre during the Carnivale Literary Festival and Australian Independent Bookshop Fair. The book was distributed nationwide by the Co-op University Bookshop. It was a little anthology of short stories about Filipino tradition, religious belief, a father, the rustic scenario of a barrio, Filipino expatriates in Australia, the rites of passage for a young boy, and other topics that relate to Filipinos living in Australia.

Cabucos hails from Kabacan, Cotabato Province, Mindanao, the second largest island in the Philippines. He is the eldest of five children of Antonio Cabucos, a retired soldier in the Philippine Army, and Elma Escarola-Cabucos, a businesswoman who manages a student boarding house in their town. He grew up in the rice farming town of Carmen where encounters between the military and the rebels were occurring.

In describing this age-old problem in the Philippines he relates, in one of his short stories through the eyes of a boy, a family in grief from losing a father from a senseless battle: ‘A six-by-six truck pulled into our front yard. Four men in military uniforms helped carry my father’s coffin down towards our living room. I trembled. I was petrified by the shellacked coffin being held in front of my eyes. Was it really ours? I did not know what to do. Should I help the men carry the coffin?  They looked all right without my help; I would probably just be blocking their way.’

After graduating from Notre Dame of Kabacan High School, Cabucos pursued his tertiary education in Philosophy through the Marist Fathers seminary program at Notre Dame University. Whilst on training for the priesthood, he struggled to come to terms with a personal dilemma: as a first-born child, how could he financially support his poor family yet pursue a desire to serve God in the vow of poverty.

After a period of hard decision-making, Cabucos left the Marist Fathers, teary-eyed, and switched to Psychology, hoping to be able to help his family as a salary-receiving individual in a capitalistic society. However, before he finished his degree, he was offered scholarship to study a Bachelors degree in Australia. In 1994, he first arrived in Australia and studied Communication Arts through the University of Newcastle.

The enormity of adjustments he had to deal with: the materialistic and hedonistic society he witnessed, the critical thinking educational approach he had to learn to adapt to, the rich western literature he read, the intimate relationships he had indulged in with Australians, and the nostalgic outbursts he suffered from leaving his friends and family. All—these contributed to the rich materials he had at his disposal to be used in his future writing.

Cabucos married his university girlfriend Deborah Brooks and they raised two children. He then proceeded to study teaching at the University of New England where he also completed a Masters degree in Secondary English Education. He now teaches English, History and Religion on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

In 2001, Ginninderra Press published his first collection of short stories The Beach Spirit and Other Stories, a book full of local colours; the same could be said about his other anthology of stories, Green Blood and Other Stories that followed a couple of years later. The selected short stories easily relate to the readers, particularly Filipino expatriates longing for home, the food, the friends and family. Describing The Beach..., Andrew Grice of London said: ‘It is an accomplished collection of short stories... engaging... the narratives of each story are well constructed. We are afforded an enlightening and enjoyable read.’

Although he is not NVM Gonzales nor Nick Joaquin, two giants in Philippine literature in English, he has the making of becoming a good fiction writer. In fact, he is currently working on a novel which he said would ‘entertain and open [the] eyes and hearts [of the readers] to things of more value.’ At the NSW Writers’ Centre events, the members of the audience were attentive and were captivated by the young crop of fiction writers reading from their recent literary pieces. They were Australia’s contemporary best-seller fiction writers and they were performing the best acts they have been recognised for—telling good and interesting stories

The reluctant but, soon-to-be best seller writer in Australia left her job with a Sydney ad agency in 1992. She planned to have a year off but quickly ran out of things to do. She tried writing a novel, and the result was—the Last Time I saw Mother which was released in 1995. It became an Australian best seller. From that point on she concentrated on her winning writing skills and has written three other books. To add to the recognition bestowed on the very talented writer, her books are now available overseas.

During respites from writing, she tries to tame her garden. ‘Plants are like characters in a novel. They often refuse to do what you want them to do.’ She also attended Italian language classes. A visit to her home reveals her growing collection of Italian books and an unusual collection of eggs, horses and fish. ‘I have a thing for them.’ As for water, it’s a confession that explains her love for Sydney’s northern beaches where she lives.

Novelist Chai first came to Australia in 1982. Her Australian sojourn lasted three weeks and she returned to Manila. Three years later she decided to settle in Australia with her parents and three sisters. As Filipino migrants, like many Filipino expatriates, she initially experienced difficulty in adapting to the kind of living Down Under. There was this strong longing for the ‘old country’ but she finally decided on staying in Australia for good. She considered that decision ‘the first major change in my life’.

The Chicago Tribune reviewed her first book glowingly and said: ‘Reading each chapter is like having a conversation with a close friend.’ As one of Australia’s best selling fiction writers, Chai is described by her publisher, Random House marketing director, Alan Davison, as ‘charming, articulate, unassuming and a most interesting person’. He urges everyone to spend some time to read her novels, particularly her latest book, Black Hearts. Like her first novel,

The Last Time I Saw Mother which was the featured book for a month with the Angus & Robertson book world chain and appeared in over two million catalogues for mother’s day, Black Hearts gained popularity and support from booksellers and this should tell everyone that she is an A1 fiction writer in Australia.

She was also in the session called The Ever-Present Past: Asian Mythology in Contemporary Australian Writings under the auspices of the Asia Society.  She also received the Gintong Aklat Award (Golden Book Award, Philippines) for her novel Banana Heart Summer, from the Book Development Association of the Philippines. Between 1997 and 2007, she was the recipient of numerous awards. Her plays have been produced/performed on stage and radio in Australia, the Philippines, Spain, USA, Canada, France, China, Thailand and the Slovak Republic.

She has performed some of her works as theatre, dance and music. She graduated with her Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, from Aquinas University in Legazpi and her Master of Arts in Literature meritissimus from the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. Before coming to Australia in 1991 as a scholar, she had been teaching literature and English at Philippine universities. She completed her Doctorate of Creative Arts at the University of Wollongong.

Many were surprised at the emergence of Ranulfo Concon as a creative author when he published Nirvana’s Children, a comic, magic realist novel for young adults set in Kings Cross. His first novel, classified as young adult fiction, won the NSW Premier Literary Awards 2002 (Ethel Turner Prize). Concon was born in the Philippines but grew up in Sydney

Excerpts from Connecting Two Cultures: Australia and the Philippines, winner of the best book category for 2014 MAM Awards (Migrant Advisory and Midea Award), Manila Prints, 2014.