Lysley Tenorio

Lysley Tenorio is a highly acclaimed American fiction writer of Filipino descent. Tenorio’s work has appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and is published in many literary magazines and anthologies. He is the author of two short story collections, Monstress and The Valley, and one novel, The Son of Good Fortune.

Tenorio was born in Daly City, California to Filipino immigrants; his father was an accountant and his mother a nurse. From an early age, he was exposed to a variety of cultural experiences including Filipino cultural festivals, books in Filipino and English, and the Filipino masses. Throughout his academic and professional career, he has been heavily influenced by Filipino culture and language.

After graduating from the University of California, Irvine with a B.A. in English, Tenorio attended the University of California, Riverside, where he earned his M.A. in Creative Writing in 1998. Tenorio’s foray into fiction began during the period. His stories have dealt with the complexities of modern Filipino-American life, and can be seen as an exploration of this experience from a perspective that is unique and distinct from the mainstream.

Tenorio’s debut collection, Monstress (2006), offers an irreverent, honest and often humorous look at the lives of a variety of Filipino-American characters. Each story is told from a unique and distinct perspective, giving a vibrant sense of the diversity of Filipino-American life. The book was a finalist for both the PEN/Hemingway Award and the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award.

The Valley (2013) is Tenorio’s second collection of short stories. Again, Tenorio uses a variety of perspectives to explore Filipino-American culture, ranging from the humorous to the tragic and ridiculous. In each story, he adeptly captures the all-too-common obstacles faced by members of this subculture. The Valley was longlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and was shortlisted for the East Asian Literary Award.

Tenorio’s debut novel, The Son of Good Fortune (2018), focuses on the struggles of a Filipino-American family as they grapple with their sense of identity and the rapidly changing society around them. He challenges tired conventions and explores themes such as displacement, erasure, ancestral inheritance and love through storytelling. The Son of Good Fortune received positive reviews from critics and readers alike, with some noting its lyrical prose and engaging characters as a unique blend of fiction and memoir.

Over the years, Tenorio has become a highly respected figure in the literary world. He has worked for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, served on the board of the Philippine-American Writers & Artists Inc., and presented at numerous conferences and book festivals. He is also the winner of a Whiting Writers' Award, a MacDowell Fellowship, and an NEA Fellowship in Literature.

Tenorio’s work is remarkable in that he shows a real appreciation of the Filipino-American experience and its complexities. Through his engaging portrayals of characters, his stories are able to capture the many layers of Filipino-American identity with both sensitivity and humor. He is definitely an author worth checking out!