MFA alum Liezel Moraleja Hackett publishes with Sampaguita Press and Write or Die Tribe

Liezel Moraleja Hackett (MFA '17) never thought she would be writing about writing, but the MFA alum has discovered both the pleasure and community-building possibilities of sharing her poetics as a contributor to the website Write or Die Tribe, an online collective that provides resources for writers of all genres seeking, in their words, "literary and creative connection."

Hackett has penned articles about Choreography and The Mechanics of Writing and Meet Me At One: What Is Your Focus Space?, drawing on her experience as a choreographer and Filipino folkdancer. She also provides writing prompts based on the Harper's index and on using revision as a creative strategy. See more at the WoDT website!

Hackett's creative work can be found in Sampaguita Press's zine “Sobbing in Seafood City" Volume 1, which includes her poem “A Delicate Hand—for Librada.” The zine's title pays homage to Michelle Zauner's "Crying in H Mart," and its theme, in Hackett's words, "centers around food and supermarkets as a space that harbors fragments of our homeland and culture; immigrant life; and food as culture and comfort." Hackett's poem describes her grandmother's process of making leche flan, which she passed down to her at age 15.

The press is close to Hackett's heart. She explains, "Sampaguita Press is a new press in the Bay area—originally started as a zine, Marías at Sampaguitas. It’s been fun watching them progress and grow. Sampaguita is a flower in The Philippines, its name, which came from the words, sumpa kita (I promise you/I curse you—the duality!) tells of promised/lost/unfulfilled love in a few folktales. The flower is closed in daylight and opens only at night."

Copies of "Sobbing in Seafood City" will be available when the press launches its new website soon! In the interim, you can find Liezel's work in back-issues of Clamor, UW Bothell's literary and arts journal (2017, 2018), UOG Press’ Storyboard: A Journal of Pacific Imagery, and Ponyak Press’ The Friday Haiku (@ponyakpress on Instagram/Twitter).