The title Salingkit comes from the Filipino expression “saling pusa,” referring to a person who doesn’t belong. The book depicts the life and times of the generation known as “martial law babies,” those born during the period of 1971 to 1983 under then President Ferdinand Marcos and his authoritarian regime.
The author teaches English at the Ateneo. She wrote her first book, Father and Daughter: The Figures of Our Speech, with her father Gemino Abad in 1996. Her last book, Leaf of Shadow: Stories About Some Friendly Creatures in 2008, includes her children’s story “Behind the Old Aparador,” which won a Palanca Award.