November 24, 1913 [Binalonan, Pangasinan, Philippines]–September 11, 1956 [Seattle, Washington]
Bulosan was born to Ilocano parents in the Philippines in Binalonan, Pangasinan (his exact birth year is disputed). Raised on a farm, his family was deeply impoverished. He left the Philippines for Seattle in 1930 and never returned. He moved to Los Angeles in 1936 to recover from tuberculosis in Los Angeles County hospital where he had three operations and spent two years convalescing. He edited Chorus for America: Six Philippine Poets, published in Los Angels in 1942, and published his only book of poems, Voice of Bataan, in 1943. His most famous work, America Is in the Heart, an autobiographical novel describing the difficulties faced by Filipino laborers in California, appeared in 1946. As a labor organizer and socialist writer, he was eventually blacklisted. He died in Seattle suffering from malnutrition and bronchopneumonia.
