Uncle Rico’s Encore: Mostly True Stories of Filipino Seattle

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Friday, November 19, 2021 | 5:30pm to 7pm

From the 1950s through the 1970s, blue-collar Filipino Americans, or Pinoys, lived a hardscrabble existence. Immigrant parents endured blatant racism, sporadic violence, and poverty while their U.S.-born children faced more subtle forms of racism, such as the low expectations of teachers and counselors in the public school system. In this collection of autobiographical essays, acclaimed novelist and short-story writer Peter Bacho centers the experiences of the Pinoy generation that grew up in Seattle’s multiethnic neighborhoods, from the Central Area to Beacon Hill to Rainier Valley. He recounts intimate moments of everyday life: fishing with marshmallows at Madison Beach, playing bruising games of basketball at Madrona Park, and celebrating with his uncles in Chinatown as hundreds of workers returned from Alaska canneries in the fall. He also relates vivid stories of defiance and activism, including resistance to the union-busting efforts of the federal government in the 1950s and organizing for decent housing and services for elders in the 1970s. Sharing a life inextricably connected to his community and the generation that came before him, this memoir is a tribute to Filipino Seattle.

Purchase Book: https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295749778/uncle-ricos-encore/

Author Bio

Peter Bacho was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in the city’s famed Central Area. He teaches at The Evergreen State College, and is the author of seven books: Cebu, Dark Blue Suit, Boxing in Black and White, Nelson's Run, Entrys, Leaving Yesler, and his latest, a memoir, Uncle Rico’s Encore: Mostly True Stories of Filipino Seattle.

Bacho’s books have received several awards, including the 1992 American Book Award for his novel Cebu. His short story “The Wedding” received a “distinguished” cite, Best American Short Stories of 1993. His second book, Dark Blue Suit, won the Murray Morgan Prize and a Washington State Governor's Writers Award, in 1998. His nonfiction work, Boxing in Black and White, was listed in the top 100 books of 1999 by the Center for Children’s Books (University of Illinois).

In 2005, Seattle University named Bacho the Distinguished Northwest Writer in Residence. In 2006, the University of Washington listed Cebu as one of the top 100 books written by a UW writer over the past century (1906-2006). In 2008, Northwest Asian Weekly honored him as a literary “pioneer.”