Cebu Literary Festival: A Love Affair between the Speakers and Audience

l-r: Shivaji Das Sinagporean Writer, Hendri Go, Cecilia, Ian Casocot

I felt trepidation when I heard the Cebu Literary Festival would be held in the middle of Ayala Center, a mall with shops around and people coming and going. And when I arrived and listened to the panel of speakers, I could hear a bit of echoing, and my heart sank.  I've had my share of readings in noisy places where it was impossible to be heard, and if heard, impossible to hold the audience's attention.

Cecilia Brainard giving her talk "Cebu As Inspiration to My Writings" - photo courtesy of Hope Yu

l-r: Hope Yu, Hendri Go, Larry Ypil, Cecilia Brainard

BUT ... wonder of wonders, the audience was about as good an audience as I've seen - interested, captivated, HUNGRY for what the writers had to say. I will guess here and say there were 500 people, perhaps more. There were students from Cebu Normal University, from University of San Carlos, and other schools. Regular literature-loving folk were there. The audience was in love with us; we were in love with them. The noise faded into the background and there was just the love affair between the audience and readers. We gave our talks and discussed; the audience lapped everything up. How much better can it get?

Larry Ipil and Cecilia Brainard - photo courtesy of Hope Yu

To my right is Erlinda Alburo

The book and souvenir vendors were also very happy because people were buying. National Bookstore that put up a table with my books said they sold a lot of my titles; and the young women in charge were all smiles.

The Cebu Literary Festival was a heady, marvelous, wondrous success. Hendri Go and Hope Yu, thank you. Here's hoping this will be an annual event.

There were so many pictures taken so I'm sure I'll have more later on, but here are some, for now. I'll add pictures to this blog entry, so visit this site again, dear Readers.

I gave a 40 minute talk and reading; and I was also in a one hour-long lively panel on Writing and Diaspora with writers Larry Ypil, Linda Faigao-Hall, and moderated by Jude Bacalso. There were quite a number of students and people who wanted books signed and/or who wanted to talk to me, so forgive me Erma and Ian if I lost you sometime during the afternoon. I felt tugged here and there, but I'm not complaining. It was truly a lovely literary event, one of the best I've attended.

Jobers Bersales, second to the left, and Marlinda Tan far right

Larry Ypil

 l-r: Angel Perales, Cecilia, and Jane who goes by Athena Ava in FB

The audience, but there were people watching from the upper balconies too

To my left is Erma Cuizon

l-r: Raffy Polinar, Hope Yu, Cecilia Brainard, Larry Ypil

The photos below are courtesy of Hope Yu, plus the picture above of me in front of the mic and the duo picture of Larry Ypil and me.

 l-r: Linda Faigao-Hall, Larry Ypil, Cecilia Brainard, Jude Bacalso

Cebu Mayor Mike Rama 
The picture below shoes Cecilia Brainard and Hanski Garcia

Read also:
Hendri Go: The Man Behind the Cebu Literary Festival
My Literary Cat Reading One Hundred Years of Solitude
My Literary Cat Reading William Shakespeare
My Literary Cat Reading For Whom the Bell Tolls
Cats Reading To Kill A Mockingbird

This is all for now, but do check into this site for more pictures,
Cecilia