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This is where you can access links to an excerpt of Taxi Dancer, a synopsis of the novel and author’s bio as well as interviews featured in online magazines.
Consider this your digital press kit.
Author Bio
Marivi Soliven has authored 18 books, including The Mango Bride, which won the grand prize at the 2011 Palanca Awards, the Philippine counterpart of the Pulitzer Prize. Her short story “Talunang Manok” was adapted to a short film titled “Recipe” by Marissa Aroy. “Pandemic Bread,” her nonfiction story about interpreting end-of-life calls during the Covid pandemic, was adapted to an award-winning short film directed by Zeinabu irene Davis. Pandemic Bread has screened at 11 film festivals across the United States, London, Manila and Tepoztlán. She worked on the draft of Taxi Dancer during a 2012 Hedgebrook writing residency. Apart from writing, Marivi helps her fellow immigrants in her day job as a Tagalog interpreter.
Taxi Dancer Synopsis
“Can’t marry white girls, might as well dance with them.”
Filipinos defy California’s anti-miscegenation law banning interracial marriages by setting up dance halls where they can socialize with American women. When Filipino farmworker Eli and taxi dancer Lucinda fall in love, they decide to flee to Washington State, where they can legally marry.
Their plans are derailed when Eli is accused of murdering a taxi dance hall owner. As Lucinda fights to exonerate Eli, she discovers a conspiracy orchestrated by rival dance hall owner Mamie Savage and her Filipino bartender Sal Bacos. The murder trial exposes secrets long held by the conspirators, the murder victim, and Lucinda herself. Inspired by a 1930s taxi dance hall murder in San Diego’s Stingaree District.