CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE MICA DE LEON?

Many know Mica De Leon as a manufacturer of kilig. As an author, they have published two swoony love stories starring Filipino characters. As the editor of a publishing house, they help put dozens of Filipino romance books on our shelves year after year.

- By ANDREA PANALIGAN

"I didn't write this wanting catharsis, but thankfully, it just came out. And after I finished this book, I just felt a little freer from all that burden," says author Mica De Leon.

But in their fierce essay collection Some Days I Wish I Was A Cat, their first foray into nonfiction, De Leon pulls back the curtain, not caring if it reveals the messy and imperfect versions of ourselves that we all rush to hide.

In their sharp, exciting voice, De Leon dissects our rigid expectations for women — no matter how much we redefine success, we're still expected to tie everything up with a nuclear family bow — how the patriarchy trickles down into every date we go on, the ever-fluctuating Filipino identity, and the ever-dismissed importance of the romance novel.

“I try to contextualize (my experience) with bigger issues, like feminism and poverty. It’s a way for me to understand why I’m experiencing something,” De Leon tells Young STAR. “Kasi something must be happening sa macro-level. It can’t just be random na may mangyayari sa’kin na walang cause.”

But Some Days I Wish I Was A Cat promises no answers, only recognition. Only shared frustration, and in turn, power in numbers. De Leon is angry, but they are not hopeless. And they are tired of being afraid.

In the essay collection ‘Some Days I Wish I Was A Cat,’ De Leon is exhausted of dating, the literati, and the unattainable Filipino monomyth — but they are also tired of being afraid.

YOUNG STAR: The book combines newer essays and those you've written over the years. Did you have a specific thesis or theme in mind while putting the collection together?

MICA DE LEON: When I pitched this to Summit (Books), I think that was 2022-2023, it began as a different book. I called it “Filipino Millennial Monomyth’ kasi it’s an examination of the Filipino identity.