Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books..
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
READ ALSO:
The Mechanism of Moving Forward by Nikki Alfar - Love Stories Series #1
A Simple Grace by Geronimo Tagatac - Love Stories Series #2
The Virgin's Last Night by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard - Love Stories Series #3
Fossil by Angelo R. Lacuesta - Love Series #4
Rose Petal and Tea and an Inn by the Sea by Susan Evangelista - Love Stories Series #5
Game by Melissa Salva - Love Stories Series #6
An Affair to Remember by Paulino Lim, Jr. - Love Series #7
Compartments by Ian Rosales Casocot - Love Stories Series #8
Married People by Noelle Q. de Jesus - Love Stories Series #9
Afterbirth by Eileen Tabios - Love Stories Series #10
How Manong Victor Brought Home His Baket - Love Stories Series #11
Cecilia Brainard Fiction: The One-Night Stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair
Cecilia Brainard Fiction: After the Ascension
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books..
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
PRESS RELEASE
PALH (Philippine American Literary House) has released award-winning Linda Ty-Casper’s novella, A Small Party in a Garden, Revised and Critical Edition. Referred to as a “novel of justice” this edition reintroduces this important historical fiction to a new generation of readers. First published almost forty years ago, A Small Party in a Garden is set in the Philippines during the Marcos Dictatorship. The story’s protagonist, a privileged woman who is the right-hand woman of Imelda Marcos, learns first-hand what brutality meant under Marcos’ Martial Law. This revised and critical edition includes an introduction by Dr. Charlie Samuya Veric (Professor at the Ateneo de Manila University), an article by Dr. Lynn M. Grow, (Emeritus Senior Professor of English at Broward College), and some past book reviews of Ty-Casper’s novella.
Linda Ty-Casper is the author of over sixteen books, which generally deal with Philippine historical and political themes. She is the recipient of the SEA Write Award, UNESCO/P.E.N., Rockefeller Bellagio, Radcliffe Fellowships and other awards. Her literary work is considered a significant contribution to Filipino, Philippine American, as well as Asian American literature. Her works of fiction are so powerful that two of her novels, Wings of Stone and Awaiting Trespass, were banned in the Philippines during the Marcos Dictatorship; the books were published in London.
Her recent books include the biography of her husband: Will You Happen, Past the Silence, Through the Dark: Remembering Leonard Ralph Casper, and Lives Remembered, A Memoir.
A
Small Party in a Garden: Revised and Critical Edition is easily available from Amazon, in book and digital
formats.
PRAISE:
Writing in 1993, five years after the novella A
Small Party in a Garden was first published in 1988, NVM Gonzalez defined
what he called the novel of justice. “Living in the milieu of postcolonial and
neocolonial societies,” he wrote, “we tend to forget that imperialism dies
hard.” Heavy is the burden of the Filipino writer, Gonzalez said, who must
write the novel of justice wherein “the writer configures a world out of life
and language derived from colonial or postcolonial milieu.” The duty is heavy
because the Filipino writer must invent “strategies of narration in order to
bring off the theme of oppression, the territory provided by their perceptions
of the workings of empire.” In A Small Party in a Garden, a milieu
exists to plumb the Filipino soul, spanning the horror, nightmare, and disgrace
of the choices we make on the long road to becoming free, to becoming
postcolonial at last. (From the Introduction) ~ Charlie Samuya
Veric, Ph.D, Director, Literary and Cultural Studies Program, Ateneo
de Manila University
The reader is entangled in a web of insights, impressions, emotions emerging
from the narrator’s memories of an earlier life fraught with internal and
external conflicts … and finally as she deviates from her normal daily routine
only to be plunged into a shocking turn of events which leaves the reader
stunned and shocked. But only the inimitable writer that is Linda Ty-Casper can
deliver all these in a fluid, rich language at times dense but smoothly
flowing, at other times sharp, pointed, clear, unforgiving. And the reader,
charmed, amused, intrigued, amazed, is irrevocably caught. ~ Thelma E.
Arambulo, Writer, Literary Studies Scholar, Former UP Chair of the Dept.
of English and Comparative Literature
Tags: #philippinebooks #filipinoliterature #filipinowriter #booksphilippines
Read also
Esquire article by Charie Veric https://www.esquiremag.ph/culture/books-and-art/gardens-and-mountains-of-philippine-literature-a7837-20260108-dyn
The Mechanism of Moving Forward by Nikki Alfar - Love Stories Series #1
A Simple Grace by Geronimo Tagatac - Love Stories Series #2
The Virgin's Last Night by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard - Love Stories Series #3
Fossil by Angelo R. Laceusta - Love Stories Series #4
Rose Petal Tea and a Small Inn by the Sea by Susan Evangelista - Love Series #5
Game by Melissa Salva - Love Stories Series #6
An Affair to Remember by Paulino Lim, Jr. - Love Series #7
Compartments by Ian Rosales Casocot - Love Stories Series #8
Married People by Noelle Q. de Jesus - Love Stories Series #9
Afterbirth by Eileen Tabios - Love Stories Series #10
How Manong Victor Brought Home His Baket - Love Stories Series #11
Cecilia Brainard Fiction: The One-Night Stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair
Cecilia Brainard Fiction: After the Ascension
Cecilia Brainard's The Journey
Celebrating Translations of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's Fiction
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books..
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
Top Translated Filipino Authors - Includes Cecilia Brainard
Cross-cultural Exchange Via Cecilia Brainard's Translations
Press Release about foreign Translations of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's Fiction
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books..
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
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Check back for the YouTube Video link.
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Read also:
Positively Filipino, Nov. 5, 2025: Was the Philippines' Star Turn at Frankfurt Book Fair Worth the Fuss?
Nikkei Asia, May 21, 2025: Frankfurt Book Fair Highlights Philippines Literacy Crisis
https://asia.nikkei.com/life-arts/arts/frankfurt-book-fair-highlights-philippines-literacy-crisis
Development Aid (UN): The Cost of Illiteracy: Why the Education System in Philippines is Failing Millions
https://www.developmentaid.org/news-stream/post/195634/education-crisis-in-philippines
Philippine Star, Jan. 1, 2026: 24 Million Pinoys Illiterate, 5.2 million children unserved
Tags: Filipino literacy, Philippine literacy
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books..
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
The very first published book by Linda Ty-Casper was THE TRANSPARENT SUN AND OTHER STORIES, published by Alberto Florentino as part of his Peso Book Series. The Peso Books were small, affordable books, created deliberately to make the books accessible. This was Alberto Florentino's vision. The series included such notable writers as Jose Garcia Villa, Nick Joaquin, Francisco Arcellana, Celso Al. Carunungan, N.V.M.Gonzalez, Wilfrido D. Nolledo, Edith L. Tiempo, and others -- writers who went along with Florentino's vision.
The small books, like chaplets are now impossible to find. I received a copy recently from Linda Ty-Casper, and am sharing photos of the first pages and last, for educational purposes.
To those who avail of these pages, consider acquiring Linda Ty-Casper's other books currently available, such as her Memoir, her biography of her husband Len Casper, and more. You can find these in Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Baybayin Bookshop, Lazada, and Shopee.
Linda Ty-Casper's bio:
Linda Ty-Casper had graduated from her studies in Law from
the University of the Philippines and Harvard when she came across erroneous
and biased books at Widener Library. She abandoned Law and became an advocate,
through faithfully researched historical fiction, of the Filipino’s right to
self-definition/determination.
Her 16 books of fiction deal with Philippine events from the 18th
century, the 1896 Philippine revolution, the Philippine-American War
(1898-1902), World War II, on to the Martial Law years of the Marcos
Dictatorship, and the post-Marcos days until the early 2000s. She has edited her husband's biography, Will You Happen, Past the Silence, Through the Dark: Remembering Leonard Ralph Casper, and she also wrote her memoir, Lives Remembered. Her A Small Party in a Garden: Revised and Critical Edition is forthcoming.
Ms. Casper’s awards include the SEA WRITE Award,
UNESCO/P.E.N., Rockefeller (Bellagio), Radcliffe Fellowship, among others. Her
stories have been published in Antioch Review, The Asia Magazine, Windsor
Review, Hawaii Review, Triquarterly, and others.
Tags: #philippinebooks #filipinoliterature #filipinowriter #booksphilippines
Read also
The Mechanism of Moving Forward by Nikki Alfar - Love Stories Series #1
A Simple Grace by Geronimo Tagatac - Love Stories Series #2
The Virgin's Last Night by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard - Love Stories Series #3
Fossil by Angelo R. Laceusta - Love Stories Series #4
Rose Petal Tea and a Small Inn by the Sea by Susan Evangelista - Love Series #5
Game by Melissa Salva - Love Stories Series #6
An Affair to Remember by Paulino Lim, Jr. - Love Series #7
Compartments by Ian Rosales Casocot - Love Stories Series #8
Married People by Noelle Q. de Jesus - Love Stories Series #9
Afterbirth by Eileen Tabios - Love Stories Series #10
How Manong Victor Brought Home His Baket - Love Stories Series #11
Cecilia Brainard Fiction: The One-Night Stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair
Cecilia Brainard Fiction: After the Ascension
Cecilia Brainard's The Journey
Celebrating Translations of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's Fiction
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books..
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
Top Translated Filipino Authors - Includes Cecilia Brainard
Cross-cultural Exchange Via Cecilia Brainard's Translations
Press Release about foreign Translations of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's Fiction
Publishers of Cecilia Brainard's Foreign Translations
Leonardo Garzaro (Editor Rua do Sabao)
Dimitris Tsoukatos (Lemvos Editions)
Mohamed Radi (Egyptian Office for Publishing and Distribution
Dejan Trajkoski (Prozart Media)
Jale Memmedova (Qanun Publishing House)
Dr. Takuya Matsuda (Genki Shobou)
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books..
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
I should acknowledge my novel MAGDALENA for making the shortlist of the Akdang Pinoy Choice Awards. You can find information and book reviews in this site:
https://ceciliabrainard.com/book/magdalena/
Here is the link for the FINAL VOTING round.
Described as a tragic and erotic novel, MAGDALENA has been translated into Arabic (Egyptian Office for Publishing and Distribution), Greek( Lemvos), and North Macedonian (Bata). It will also be translated into Portuguese by Editora Rua do Sabao of Brazil.
Tags: #philippinebooks #filipinoliterature #filipinowriter #booksphilippines
Read also:
Top Translated Filipino Authors - Includes Cecilia Brainard
Cross-cultural Exchange Via Cecilia Brainard's Translations
Press Release about foreign Translations of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's Fiction
Publishers of Cecilia Brainard's Foreign Translations
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books..
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
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***Title: ONE-ON-ONE WITH AUTHOR CECILIA MANGUERRA BRAINARD ABOUT THE FRANKFURT AND PORTO ALEGRE BOOK FAIRSIn this talk, internationally-acclaimed writer Cecilia Manguerra Brainard shares her first-hand observations from her participation in two major international literary events: the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany (2024 and 2025) and the Porto Alegre Book Fair in Brazil, where she was invited as a speaker. Drawing from these experiences, she reflects on how Filipino publishers and authors are perceived in global spaces, the opportunities and challenges that arise when representing Philippine literature abroad, and ultimately, whether involvement in such international book fairs is worthwhile.Brainard’s perspective is shaped not only by her professional engagement in these events but also by her ongoing creative work, which involves writing stories rooted in the history, memory, and culture of Cebu. By bringing Cebuano narratives to wider international audiences, she aims to affirm their place in global literary conversations. Her talk raises timely questions about visibility, cultural presence, and the value of advocating for Philippine, and specifically Cebuano, stories on the world stage.
We have yet to upload the lecture to the Center’s YouTube page, but you may view the recording through this link: LINK
Read also:
Top Translated Filipino Authors - Includes Cecilia Brainard
Cross-cultural Exchange Via Cecilia Brainard's Translations
Press Release about foreign Translations of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's Fiction
Publishers of Cecilia Brainard's Foreign Translations
Leonardo Garzaro (Editor Rua do Sabao)
Dimitris Tsoukatos (Lemvos Editions)
Mohamed Radi (Egyptian Office for Publishing and Distribution
Dejan Trajkoski (Prozart Media)
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books..
Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.
Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines.
She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.
l-r : Hope Sabanpan-Yu (Cebuano Studies Center), Senja Pozar (literary agent), Cecilia Brainard, Prashant Pathak (PublishersvWithout Borde...
