Melinda Barbaran's award-winning piece titled “Latay sa Laman” details the writer's relationship with her father, who was not accepting of her sexuality. Photo by SAMANTHA LEEMelinda Babaran has been working as a factory worker in Taiwan for almost 12 years now. In 2018, she won the Jury Award at the Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants for her article titled “Latay sa Laman.”
“Wala akong balak sumali noon. It just so happened that nagkaroon ng sakit ‘yung father ko so I needed someone to talk to so instead of pouring out my emotions to an individual,” she says. “It was a poem about what's usually happening between families if nagtatrabaho sa ibang bansa ‘yung isa.” “Latay sa Laman” was written like a monologue, in which Barbaran details her relationship with her father, who did not fully accept her sexuality. She says that unlike in the Philippines, she found that the Taiwanese had no qualms about her sexuality. “Hindi katulad sa Pilipinas na ‘pag nakasalubong ka, tataasan ka na agad ng kilay o iiwasan ka o masama agad ang iniisip sayo,” she says.
Ever since she was a kid, writing has been her outlet. “Nagsusulat lang ako whenever I'm upset just to pour out my emotions and then after that, tinatapon ko na. That's my way of hindi mapuno ‘yung loob ko at hindi ako makapagtanim ng galit.”
I’m editing an anthology of Pinay lesbian writing for Anvil Pride Press. I’d like to include her work in it. May I have her email address? Thanks, CNN Ph!
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