Jessica Hagedorn is a novelist, poet, playwright, and performance artist. Her work is steeped in the history of the Philippines and her experience as an Asian-American. Hagedorn was born in Manila just after American control ended, and moved to San Francisco at age 13; she was published as a poet just a couple of years later. Her books include Dogeaters, Gangster of Love, Charlie Chan is Dead, and Dream Jungle, which deals with the filming of Apocalypse Now and the discovery of an unknown tribe in the mountains of the Philippines.
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