Randy Ribay (Source: Penguin Random House)

The world is before you, and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in... James Baldwin's words have been the creed by which Randy Ribay, author of Patron Saints of Nothing, has lived ever since he relinquished his studies as an aeronautical engineer 17 years ago to heed writing’s call. Ribay's third novel has been longlisted for the National Book Award. Patron Saints of Nothing follows a half-American, half-Filipino man as he journeys to the Philippines to seek justice for a cousin who was a victim of the extrajudicial killings perpetrated in the name of President Rodrigo Duterte's war against drugs. Biculturalism infuses Ribay's works; the topic has engrossed him all of his life. With a Caucasian-American mother and a Filipino father, he scarcely belonged to any one community during his formative years in Michigan. The rarity of Philippine literary works at the University of Colorado at Boulder further fed a gnawing sense of displacement. Invisibility led to this realization: "The things I didn't like about the world, or about other stories I didn't like in the world, didn't have to be that way. I didn't see any Filipino Americans in the stories I read. I could create those stories."

Literature classes introduced Ribay to Baldwin as well as to Sandra Cisneros and W.E.B. Dubois, writers of color whose output instilled in him a will to cultivate and refine his own talent as a storyteller so that one day he could contribute to empowering kindred Filipino Americans with a voice. His parents were not too keen on his newfound vocation. Since financial difficulties had plagued their own childhoods, they hoped that their son would succeed in a financially rewarding career. Yet, Ribay was dogged in his mission, teaching high school English as a livelihood while developing a routine of writing from five to six thirty in the morning. Rejections from literary agents trickled in. Rather than being daunted, Ribay further honed his craft and technique, fueled by the parental ethic that one can achieve one’s dreams through hard work. Witnessing his diligence, his parents came around and gave their support. Responses from literary agents gradually changed from form rejections to positive feedback, until he gained representation for his first novel, An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes, a coming-of-age tale that explores the endurance of friendships, sexual awakening, and the tribulations of divorce.

An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes

Through setbacks and triumphs, Ribay has grown not only as an artist, but also as a person, his self-awareness as a Filipino American all the more strengthened. Each of us with the need to tell one's story has the capacity to enrich the community, Ribay affirms, and the key to doing so is a matter of self-faith: "Understanding the importance of your story, understanding that your story is the most powerful thing you bring to this world and that if you want to write, you need to think carefully and think deeply about what your story is. That will help you find your voice and help you write more uniquely, more powerfully, instead of just trying to sound like somebody else, or trying to be like somebody else."

Ribay also stresses that the proverbial pen is not the only means by which we can impact readers: "There are a lot of ways to help bring Filipino American stories into the world that aren't by necessarily being a writer. We need diverse people that are in the industry at every level. Agents, editors, book reviewers, publicists, art designers, librarians, teachers… these stories come out into the world through these people. We're not going to see a lasting change across the industry unless the industry is more diverse than it currently is."

Despite his confidence, Ribay does have instances of doubt, as insecurity is integral to the artistic life. His is not the kind of insecurity that debilitates, however, as much as it propels him to attain excellence. Ribay admits that he avoids reading his novels once they've been published because he has a tendency to fixate on passages that he could have written differently. His sense of mission quells any residual frustration over his writing process.

"If you're a writer or somebody from a marginalized background who's operating in a privileged space, your job is to be like Prometheus -- steal the fire and bring it back to the people. In some ways, I hope I'm stealing fire and taking it back to my community in whatever way that is, whether that's creating more space for writers, whether it's inspiring people to become agents or editors [or] widening that world for such a way that makes the stories we create more reflective of the diverse realities of our world."

Click on the link below for Randy Ribay's reading list of Filipino-American literature:

https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/?detailStory=reading-recommendations-for-filipinx-americans

Rafaelito V. Sy is the author of Potato Queen, a novel about the relationship between Caucasians and Asians in the San Francisco gay community of the 1990s. Please visit his blog of short stories and inspirational essays on film: www.rafsy.com.

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