SOURCE: Hagedorn, Jessica, and Emily Porcincula Lawsin. “Jessica Hagedorn: Interview by Emily Porcincula Lawsin.” In Words Matter: Conversations with Asian American Writers, edited by King-Kok Cheung, pp. 21-39. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000.

In the following interview, Hagedorn discusses her childhood in the Philippines, her life in the United States, her writing career, and the reception of her work in both the Philippines and the United Sates.

I met Jessica Hagedorn for the first time when I was in elementary school. I met her, not in the physical sense, but in a way that an impressionable young Filipina could never forget: in the Seattle Public Library. Every day after school, my parents used to force my brother and me to go to the library near our home until one of them could return from work. I hated reading back then because of this routine. One day, I browsed...