Lucky Creatures

In his debut essay collection, award-winning Filipino-Kiwi essayist Joseph Trinidad explores the lessons of his grandmother’s chicken farm and his grandfather’s lucky golden fish; the vibrancy of his home country and its rites of passage such as tuli, beauty pageants and national Boy Scout jamborees; the contradictions of Aotearoa, which welcomes his family’s labour but insists they leave their mother tongues at the border; and his own journey of coming out, along with the hard work of actualisation that follows as he and his partner grapple with the desire to have a baby.

Inspired by the creatures of Filipino folktales and migrant touchstones such as FaceTime and 'that one cousin from the States', Lucky Creatures seeks to answer the eternal question: 'Was the move worth it?' Each resulting essay is an unforgettable exploration of life as a queer, Brown, transnational hybrid – filled with the warmth, grace and humour of the lucky creatures who can hear the call of home.

'There’s an entirely original voice in these essays that seems to me created out of a tremendous intimacy. Trinidad is making space on the page for the people in the stories he is telling, their languages, their lives, the money they earned and the money they didn’t, the heartbreak and the connections both.' —Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel

'Magnificent – the kind of book you can’t help telling everyone about. I was still smiling and laughing long after I put it down.' —Saraid de Silva, author of Amma

'An unforgettable book, with a captivating sense of conviction in the strange.' —Rose Lu, author of All Who Live on Islands

'Lucky Creatures is a vibrant intervention into the literary landscape – a playful and moving collection from one of Aotearoa's most exciting new voices.' —Lana Lopesi, author of Bloody Woman

Joseph Trinidad is a Filipino writer who lives in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. His work has been featured in Landfall, North & South, Te Papa, The Spinoff, Turbine | Kapohau and with Migrant Zine Collective. He was the winner of the 2023 Adam Foundation Prize from the International Institute of Modern Letters and the 2023 Asian Ink from Playmarket. His debut essay collection, Lucky Creatures, was awarded the inaugural Sarabande Prize in the Essay.

Cover photo: Grace at the party, Julie Zhu & Saraid de Silva
Cover design: Todd Atticus