TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Are Romances the New Philippine Literature?

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Are Romances the New Philippine Literature?

I visited National Bookstore in SM Cebu and found one rack with serious Filipino literature. There were perhaps 10 racks of romances, with titles like Deal Breaker authored by Swirlybitch. Seriously.

I wonder what Balagtas, Rizal, Santos, Gonzalez, Espina-Moore, Alfon, and other great Filipino writers would think about this.

If you have any comments, email me directly.

Read also
Leonard Casper's Possibilities of Humaneness in an Age of Slaughter
In Honor of Filipino Writer, Linda Ty Casper
In Honor of Filipino American Writer, PC Morantte
In Honor of Bienvenido N. Santos
Tags: Philippines, Filipino, literature, books, novels, romances, authors
This is all for now,
Cecilia

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

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.