Her Wild American Self
Stories by M. Evelina Galang

"Stirring debut collection of stories . . . All are told in an elegant, mesmerizing style."
- The New York Times Book Review

"An honest and insightful look at the experiences of a Fillipina American woman."
- Ms. Magazine

"Her Wild American Self is full of sound attentive writing. Evelina Galang keeps growing as an artist and this, her debut collection, is a remarkable and exciting book." - Lorrie Moore, author of Like Life and Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?

Her Wild American Self , a debut short story collection by M. Evelina Galang, each a story about a different woman, captivates with tales of identity, maturity, love, career, adolescence, ethnicity, and independence.M. Evelina Galang’s stories about Filipina Americans - recent immigrants or first generation - explore what it is to be American and female. Each character struggles with careers, motherhood, sisterhood, and roles within family and society, including the stereotype of the subservient Asian American woman.The title story marks Augustina’s coming-of-age and subsequent fall from grace. In "Talk to Me, Milagros," Nelda envies the beautiful daughter of the immigrant family that comes to live in their house until a revealing incident brings understanding and solidarity. Visiting her cousin Mina who works as a dancer in a sleazy Chicago club, Rose questions her own choices in "Rose Colored." Ana, an artist who draws nudes, attempts a self-portrait in "Figures" only to reveal that her marriage is a mistake. Pregnant and single, Lisa in "Contravida" is forced to return to her hometown in the Midwest where her mother is dying of cancer. In "Miss Teenage Sampaguita," fourty-two-year-old Rosaria relives her own escape from repressive familial bonds as she watches her sixteen-year-old niece surrender to her brother’s oppressive dictates.Neither fully accepting nor rejecting their Eastern and Western traditions, the characters in this collection attempt to come to terms with their bicultural upbringing.M. Evelina Galang teaches creative writing at Old Dominion University. Born in Pennsylvania in 1961, Galang grew up in Illinois and Wisconsin. Presently, she lives in Norfolk, Virginia.