A collection whose poetry occasionally resembles a literal “dance” of words and whose offbeat prose fiction opens a space for rewriting of immigration narratives.

• San Francisco Momo's Press, 1975

• 56 pages

• Paperback

• 1st edition

Jessica Hagedorn was born and raised in the Philippines and came to the United States in her early teens. Her novels include Toxicology, Dream Jungle, The Gangster Of Love, and Dogeaters, winner of the American Book Award and a finalist for the National Book Award.

Hagedorn is also the author of Danger And Beauty, a collection of poetry and prose, and the editor of three anthologies: Manila Noir, Charlie Chan Is Dead: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction and Charlie Chan Is Dead 2: At Home In The World.

Work for the stage includes adaptations of Dogeaters and The Gangster Of Love, collaborations with Fabian Obispo (Felix Starro), Mark Bennett (Most Wanted), Campo Santo (Stairway To Heaven, Fe In The Desert), Han Ong (Airport Music), Robbie McCauley & Laurie Carlos (Teenytown), Urban Bushwomen (Heat), Blondell Cummings (The Art Of War/Nine Situations), Lawrence “Butch” Morris (Crayon Bondage), Michael Gregory Jackson (Mango Tango), and Ntozake Shange & Thulani Davis (Where The Mississippi Meets The Amazon).

Hagedorn wrote the screenplay for Fresh Kill, a feature film directed by Shu Lea Cheang. She wrote the scripts for the experimental animated series The Pink Palace, which was created for the first season of the Oxygen Network.

From 1975-85, Hagedorn led a band called The Gangster Choir. One of their signature songs, “Tenement Lover”, is part of John Giorno’s ‘80s music anthology, A Diamond Hidden in the Mouth Of A Corpse.

Honors and prizes include a Gerbode, Hewlett Foundations’ Playwriting Award, a Philippine National Book Award, a Lucille Lortel Playwrights’ Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fiction Fellowship, a Kesselring Prize Honorable Mention for Dogeaters, an NEA-TCG Playwriting Residency Fellowship, as well as fellowships from the Sundance Playwrights’ Lab and the Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab.

She is presently working on a musical play about the pioneering, all-female rock band, Fanny.