Armed with an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Converse College, Cinelle Barnes is an essayist, memoirist and educator from Manila, Philippines. With her searing prose, she writes of the experience of being a person of color in the Deep South, Asian-American diaspora, and what our pasts can tell us about ourselves. Her memoir Monsoon Mansion details her coming-of-age in Mansion Royale before a fateful monsoon changes everything. Malaya and A Measure of Belonging feature essays from Barnes and other writers of color on the New American South. Her heartfelt, lyrical style makes Barnes a must-read for anyone looking to explore the depths of the Southern person of color experience.