New Orleans poet Randy Gonzales explores the history of Louisiana’s 19th- and early 20th-century Filipino communities in his new collection of poems, "Settling St. Malo."
Gonzales, of Filipino descent, also tells his family’s story of migration and assimilation through a blend of documentary and lyrical poetry.
"He brings readers back to a time when Louisiana had the largest Filipino population in the United States — when Filipinos fished out of St. Malo, dried shrimp on Barataria Bay, and designed Mardi Gras floats in New Orleans," according to a news release from the book's publisher, UL Press.
Gonzales is a poet, writer and community historian who researches and shares the stories of Filipino Louisiana. He is an associate professor of English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he holds the Dr. James Wilson/BORSF Eminent Scholar Endowed Professorship in Southern Studies.
Find out more about Filipinos in Louisiana at filipinola.com and more about the author at randygonzales.com.