published works
by Leslie Mancillas
Published November 2025
Within 19 days, I experienced both the sudden death of my baby sister and my father. Even though my five siblings and I had different mothers, we all shared the same father, who fostered close connections with us from a young age.
Although we grew up apart, we spent holidays, birthdays, and summers together throughout our lives and have come to love each other deeply. I never called my two brothers and sister from another mother my "step" or "half" siblings; they are just my brothers and sister.
Published November 2025
I knew it was bad when I started spotting. Bleeding after menopause was never good. After my biopsy, I was diagnosed with uterine cancer. The oncology navigator immediately scheduled my hysterectomy to get the “bad” cells out. While afraid and stressed, I had to deal with more than 40 emails from my HMO, five urgently needed pre-op tests and setting up my leave from work.
The plan was to do a robotic-assisted laparoscopic procedure in three weeks, which would be less invasive than a 6-to-8-inch incision along my abdomen. With no open-wound surgery, I wouldn’t need months of recovery. While cancer was not happy news, I felt a tremendous relief that we had a plan.
Then, four days before my scheduled surgery, my surgeon asked for a last-minute call.
Published August 2025
From the age of 6 until 12, I spent every weekend with my grandmother at her apartment in Brooklyn.
At the time, my dad was living in Mexico and my mom was dealing with personal issues, so Grandma Mary tried to see me and my two younger sisters as much as possible.
Looking back, I now know that the lessons I learned during these special weekends have done so much to shape the person I've become.
Published June 2025
After my parents divorced and my father left the country to start a new life, I thought he'd stopped loving me.
The day he told me he was leaving, I was in third grade. "I'm moving out," he told me, "but I'm not leaving you, I'm just leaving your mom." His Manhattan ad agency was sending him to Mexico City to set up a new branch. Dad had always been the more stable parent, calm and rational, a stark contrast to my erratic and drug-addicted mom.
Published May 2025
“I’ve written a list,” my mother said as our session began in her therapist’s San Francisco office. “It’s called ‘the 40 most unforgivable things I’ve ever done to my daughters.’”
Fog flowed above the skylights as she fidgeted in her seat, twirling her blue chiffon scarf. I cringed. I hated the idea of therapy, but Mom loved it. She’d convinced me to go, even though I protested, telling her, “I don’t need any apologies.”
At 30, I was still frozen in fright as if I were 7 years old and hiding under my bed because I feared my next beating.
Published Summer 2020
“I found this [excerpt from Leslie’s memoir] to be fascinating, harrowing, and inspiring. Especially in these current unsettling times, it was a real gift.”
““Leslie Mancillas’s article, “The Buddhist Bet,” offers a story of two lives transformed through Nichiren Buddhist practice that’s both shocking and inspiring in its scope and candor. After undertaking a 100-day chant challenge with her mom, a skeptical young Mancillas starts to realize: “Something was shifting, but I did not want to admit it.” Over time, her awareness of her and her mother’s buddha nature, their already awakened being, gave her a taste of newfound happiness and spiritual understanding that would change her life forever. Not only does this story enrich and expand our Western understanding of what Buddhist practice can look (and sound) like, it offers an unforgettable tale of adversity overcome—a young woman who dons, as Mancillas writes, a “shining tiara of hope”—from which we all might benefit.”
November 8, 2021- Author and tenured SRJC faculty member, Leslie Mancillas, discusses her recent national publications in connection with her memoir about surviving childhood abuse. Mancillas will explore aspects pertaining to the overall process, challenges, and joys she experienced in writing her memoir, as a means for healing and empowerment. Furthermore, she will encourage participants to reflect upon their own personal journeys and life experiences, as sources of introspection and growth.
Love on Fire
Published June 2021
The fire is closing in and I can’t find my husband. Fire. Fire. Fire. Just a mile from our northern California home 84,000 acres are burning — but when I call his cell, I hear its upbeat melody as it vibrates on the kitchen counter. Even in the middle of autumn wildfire season he refuses to be tethered to a cell. Damn him…
SRJC professor channels own adversity, and her students’, into writing
'I want to teach my students about grit and perseverance,' says Leslie Mancillas, who has been compiling student anthologies for years and now is writing a memoir recalling her own tough childhood.
To peek at Leslie's previous book chapters and introduction from Make Love Whenever Possible When Married With Children for free on Amazon, click on the book cover -->
Leslie's first memoir inspired work about keeping her love-life fresh is used as part of the instruction curriculum at Kaiser Permanente Mommy and Me classes.
Read about Leslie's collaborative work with immigrant students, "Nuestra Cultura" and "Letters to Home"
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