Publications

Beauty queens, skin-whitening creams, nuns boiling in their habits and actors-turned-politicians…what do these have to do with freedom?

Aspiring journalist Bunny is assigned to write a cover story on the famous celebrity Malaya, her bohemian childhood best friend. The impending reunion fills her with dread as she recalls how their unlikely friendship trapped her into bitterness.

Told in flashbacks with a tone reminiscent of a teleserye (a Filipino soap opera), the novel is set in a wealthy, gated community in Manila. It explores the themes of freedom and privilege in a society entrenched in colonial mentality and Catholicism, as well as obsessed with celebrity and social status.

What It Means to Be Malaya is available from Ateneo de Manila University Press.

Part of the New Cosmologies series from Sword & Kettle Press, this mini-chapbook humorously retells the Tagalog origin story of Malakas and Maganda. Weaving myth with recent Philippine history, it's not your grandmother's take on this myth.

Split Bamboo is available from Sword & Kettle Press.

Novel

Mini-chapbook

Anthologies

"Do I See You Again?" by Emmily Magtalas Rhodes is included in this collection of prose and poetry based on the digital paintings of Filipina artist Rebie Picazo Ramoso.

Translated in Arabic and edited by the novelist Abdallah Altaiyeb, The Man Who Loves to Hug is an anthology of flash fiction and includes Emmily Magtalas Rhodes’ "World Peace" which first appeared in 50-Word Stories.