Saturday, April 30, 2011

CECILIA BRAINARD & VERONICA MONTES AT THE LA FESTIVAL OF BOOKS

Veronica Montes and I spent Saturday at the LA Festival of Books. We signed copies of ANGELICA'S DAUGHTERS and VIGAN AND OTHER STORIES at the Philippine Expressions booth.


In fact the celebration began on Friday night at Philippine Expressions' Authors Night,which gathered many Filipino and Filipino American authors to launch their new books. I was delighted to meet author Zak Linmark (Rolling the Rs and Leche) for the first time. My husband's friend from law school days, Dr. Al Acena, was there and it was good to talk of the Hastings days. Letecia Leyson (from PAWA days and High Priestess of Circle Aracadia) was there, as well as Gigi Gonzalez whose Ph.D. dissertation involves my writings. Also present was one of my favorite authors, Carina Montoya-Forsythe, and husband Steve.


Last but not least, my cousin Percival Campoamor Cruz (author The Maiden of Ilog-Pasig and Other Stories) was there with his family: wife, Lilian, daughers Amanda and Mikki, and grandson Omar.. Percival and I share the common ancestor, Juana Lopez, and it was great fun working out our genealogy.


On Saturday, Veronica and I got up early, had bagles and orange juice and took off for USC, now the site for the LA Festival of Books. (The site used to be UCLA - I miss UCLA.) After walking around, meeting some representatives from Granta and Figueroa Press and other literary establishments, we positioned ourselves at the huge booth of Philippine Expressions. As usual Linda Nietes displayed her books beautifully. Take a look at the pictures - and look for ANGELICA'S DAUGHTERS and VIGAN AND OTHER STORIES. I was happy to see that Linda displayed some of my older titles: Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, Finding God, and When the Rainbow Goddess Wept although we sold out this title that morning (Philippine Expressions will restock).


Basically, Veronica and I, and Zak Linmark talked to people and signed books for several fun hours. The three of us had quite a lot of fun chatting amongst ourselves, and I had to nudge both Veronica and Zak to take care of people hovering around right in front of them, clearly anxious to talk.


Book signing events are not all about book signing (and selling books). To me, it's the opportunity to connect with people who are interested in literature. I'm delighted when people come up to me and say they'd read When the Rainbow Goddess Wept in high school or college and what it meant to them. A really popular book that stimulates a lot of conversation is the collection, Growing Up Filipino I, which remains popular now, even though this was released in 2004. (See the picture of the three young women holding up the book.) Some people were also excited about the religious book, Finding God, and it was fun to tell them the book won the Guintong Aklat Award last year.


Veronica and Zak took off for a lunch break but I stayed on because I simply wasn't hungry. I told Veronica I get too hyper at these book events. The truth is that even though I thoroughly enjoy chatting with people, it's outward energy. And, I foolishly wore heels, which wasn't a good idea given we had to walk a distance to get from the parking lot to the booth of Philippine Expressions - ouch!

By 2;30 p.m. I hobbled over to the booth of AACP, the San Mateo-based non-profit book seller run by Florence Hongo. There was Leonard Chan and Mr. Hongo to meet me and set me up at their signing table right up front where people could see me and my books. I was surprised AACP had copies of Acapulco at Sunset and Other Stories and Song of Yvonne. They also had Growing Up Filipino I and II. I talked to their clients, sold a few books for AACP, and then it was 4 o'clock and Veronica and Zak were there to pick me up for coffee.

The food section was crowded so we avoided the lines, found chairs under a shady umbrella and proceeded to talk. And talk some more. Writers will never run out of topics to talk about.

Then 5 o'clock came and it was time to find our car and drive Veronica to the airport.

I'm waiting for Veronica's pictures and writeups. I really didn't take pictures. And I'm waiting to hear about Zak's and Brian Roley's performance next week and hoping my schedule will alow me to hook up with these two wonderful young writers.

I've got two more book events in May - the Writers' Program Publication Party on May 12 and a book signing for Cherished (Barbara Abercrombie's pet book). I'll update you.

Thanks for reading and stop by again.
Read more about the Book Events from the blog of Angelica's Daughters maintained by Veronica Montes: http://angelicasdaughters.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/la-story/
P.S. Here's information re:
Philippine Expressions - http://www.philippineexpressionsbookshop.com/2114 Trudie Drive
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275-2006
tel: 310-514-9139
email: info@philippineexpressionsbookshop.com

AACP - http://www.asianamericanbooks.com/
529 East Third Ave.
San Mateo, CA 94401
Voice - (650)375-8286
Fax - (650)375-8797

Amazon.com and palhbooks.com also has copies of my books. Some of my titles are now in Kindle (Amazon.com) and Nook (Barnes and Noble).

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Cecilia Brainard on Kababayan LA, Channel 18

Just did the TV interview with Jannelle So, Kababayan LA, Channel 18 - it'll air this afternoon, April 27, at 4:30 p.m. They'll also put it up on YouTube. It's a short interview, primarily plugging the Book Signing Events this Friday and Saturday. Pls. see Book Signing Schedule in an earlier blog entry.

You can watch this April 27 interview here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEc-6dEX3Uw

Monday, April 25, 2011

Book Signing Events this coming week


YOU ARE INVITED:

FRIDAY, April 29 - Veronica Montes & Cecilia Brainard will be at the Authors Night of Philippine Expressions to launch ANGELICA'S DAUGHTERS and VIGAN AND OTHER STORIES, Friday, 5-9 pm, Community Hall, Ground Floor, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, 1145 Wilshire Blvd, LA, CA 90017; for more info, 310-514-9139;

SATURDAY, April 30 - Cecila Brainard and Veronica Montes will sign their books at the LA Festival of Books, Philippine Expressions Booth 024 in Trousdale Parkway, main promenade, from 11:30-3:30 p.m;

SATURDAY, April 30- Cecilia will also sign at the booth of AACP, booth 112 at the Festival of Books, 2:30-4 p.m.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

JESUIT ONLINE RETREAT - NOW

It only takes a few minutes - come on! Do the Jesuit Online Retreat!

Jesuit Online Retreat - https://www.phjesuits.org/features/762-of-kisses-and-alabaster-jars

Friday, April 15, 2011

Update - Mao and his Purple Toy Mouse - (Mao is the best classic orange Tabby around!)

Our kitten Mao has gotten over his upper respiratory infection although he still sneezes now and then (especially when you are holding him close to your face! - Yuk!) Here are more pictures of our kitten, Mao, playing with his favorite purple toy mouse.









STAY TUNED FOR MORE MAO UPDATES!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Upcoming News re ANGELICA'S DAUGHTERS & VIGAN AND OTHER STORIES



Hi, there, here are some forthcoming book events:
April 27 - Cecilia Brainard will be interviewed by Jannelle So in Kababayan LA 18;

April 29 - Veronica Montes and Cecilia Brainard will launch ANGELICA'S DAUGHTERS at the Authors Night of Philippine Expressions; Cecilia Brainard will launch VIGAN AND OTHER STORIES at the same event; to be held at the Community Room, Grd. Floor, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, 1145 Wilshire Blvd, 2nd floor, LA, cA 90017;


April 30 - Veronica Montes and Cecilia Brainard will sign ANGELICA'S DAUGHTERS at the LA Festival of Books to be held at the USC grounds for the first time, at the Philippine Expressions Booth, from 12-2; Cecilia Brainard will also sign VIGAN AND OTHER STORIES at the Philippine Expressions Booth (12-2) and at the AACP booth (2:30-5 p.m.)

May 12 - 7 p.m. -Cecilia Brainard will read VIGAN AND OTHER STORIES at UCLA Extension's Writers Program Publication party, Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, LA, RSVP tel: 310-794-1846

May 19 - Cecilia Brainard joins Barbara Abercrombie (editor) and other contributurs to read and sign CHERISHED: 21 WRITERS ON ANIMALS THEY HAVE LOVED AND LOST, La Canada, Flintridge

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Mao Pictures - Classic Orange Tabby Kitten Pictures

Here are pictures of our orange tabby kitten, Mao. He's still sick with upper respiratory infection and is still sneezing and wheezing. He's still on penicillin, pedialyte, and I put on the humidifier in the room if he's really congested. He's been sick for a week and I'm hoping the virus runs its course soon.



Monday, April 4, 2011

OUR CAT MAO AT THE VET (DR. ROBERT GOLDMAN)


Here's our kitten Mao at Dr. Goldman's office. Mao has upper respiratory infection, nothing serious, but he started wheezing in addition to his sneezing and watery eyes. We wanted to make sure he doesn't have pneumonia.

Upper respiratory infection (URI) is common among kittens. It's caused by a virus and runs its course of 7-10 days. Kittens get it when they're stressed and their immune system is down. With Mao, I noticed he had teary eyes, and then he started sneezing. I started to give him pedialyte to prevent dehydration and he seemed all right for a few days, but when he started wheezing and struggling to breathe, I decided to take him to the vet.

In any case, Mao had the chance to meet Dr. Robert Goldman, who is connected with the anthology, Cherished: 21 Writers On Animals They Have Loved and Lost, edited by Barbara Abercrombie. My personal essay about Kiki is in this book. Dr. Goldman's Preface shows his compassion for animals and so I chose him to take care of Mao. I searched his name in the internet and found Petville Animal Hospital at 12108 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles. Just as additional information especially to pet lovers who may read this entry, Dr. Goldman also gave Mao some supplements: Lysine and Liquid Immuno, aside from Penicillin. He told me to give him canned food (for the moisture) and to continue giving him pedialyte. He also said that a humidifier would help Mao's congestion. I bought Vicks Humidifier (warm mist)at Rite Aid.

Dr. Goldman said to call him in a week to let him know how Mao is doing. Mao is still snuffling but he should get better.

By the way, Dr. Goldman took this picture of Mao at his office.