Thursday, September 17, 2020

Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, anthology book in Kindle

 



The collection of short stories, CONTEMPORARY FICTION BY FILIPINOS IN AMERICA edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, is available on Kindle. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HPK6J7W

This book is a follow-up of the collection, Fiction by Filipinos in America. Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America collects 26 stories by Filipino American authors including (in no particular order): Fatima Lim Wilson, Mila Faraon-Heubeck, Eileen Tabios, John Silva, Veronica Montes, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Lilia V. Villanueva, Mar V. Puatu, Vince Gotera, Oscar Penaranda, Luis Cabaquinto, F. Delor Angeles, Melissa R. Aranzamendea, Eulalio Yerro Ibarra, Nadine Sarreal, Jay Ruben Dayrit, Ligaya Victorio Fruto, Edgar Poma, Marianne Villanueva, Linda Ty-Casper, Paulino Lim, Jr. Greg Sarris,Lee Respecio Colomby, N.V.M. Gonzalez, Alma Jill Dizon. 


Harold Augenbraum reviewed the book in Manoa, saying: "“By pulling these personal, fictional quests together, the reader indeed comes away with a varied portrait of Filipinos in America, not the expression of dark causality present in the earlier generations of writers, such as Bulosan and Santos—those fantastic conjurors of Filipino American literature—but of people cautiously settling into what they hope will be a comfortable position … So many of these stories convey loneliness, disconnectedness, and an inability to form lasting attachments … This collection abounds with such tension … Brainard has done a fine job of bringing many little-known writers – and the edginess of Filipinos in America – to the fore. ”

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Fiction by Filipinos in America, Short Story Collection - Kindle sale

 



PALH (Philippine American Literary House) announces the release of the US edition of the collection of short stories, FICTION BY FILIPINOS IN AMERICA, edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. The book is available from Amazon for $17.95: <https://www.amazon.com/dp/1953716059>. It is also available in Kindle form: <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KYY1FVP>.

The book collects short fiction by Philippine and Philippine American writers including Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Carlos Bulosan, Luis Cabalquinto, Virgina R. Cerenio, Juan C. Dionisio, Alberto S. Florentino, Ligaya Victorio Fruto, Jean Vengua Gier, N.V.M. Gonzalez, Erlinda Villamor Kravetz, Paulino Lim, Jr. Manuel R. Olimpo, Julia L. Palarca, Oscar PeƱaranda, Bienvenido N. Santos, Nadine Sarreal, Michelle Cruz Skinner, Samuel Tagatac, Linda Ty-Casper, Nenutzka Villamar, Marianne Villanueva, and Manuel A. Viray.

Saturday, September 5, 2020

Remembering Maryknoller Maricel Lopez Hahn by Marissa Tay

 


My Maryknoll classmate Marissa Tay remembers our classmate Maricel Lopez Hahn who passed away last Aug. 27, 2020. 
 ~ Cecilia 

Remembering Maricel Lopez Hahn

By Marissa Tay

  My ‘closer friendship’ with Maricel began in 2014. I knew her from way back half a century ago, we were friendly because of our  St. Joseph’s Villa connection, but it was in 2014 that a true friendship blossomed. We met in Toronto 2014 for a visit, on Tere Valenton-Concepcion’s invitation, because Nina Lim-Yuson was attending a conference, and  a handful of us who lived close by to Toronto saw a great opportunity to reconnect with classmates before the big reunion in 2018. 

#CopingwithCovid Interview of Cecilia Brainard by DJ Billie of 95.9 Star FM Bacolod

 



Here's the link to the interview of Cecilia Brainard by DJ Billie of 95.9 Star FM Bacolod on Coping With Covid in the US:


https://www.facebook.com/starfmbacolod/videos/3269768436443226/?sfnsn=mo&extid=xdgDunmJWnmjpxPb


Read also:
Coronavirus: The Beginning, by Cecilia Brainard
How Filipinos Are Coping With Covid, Part One (Cecilia Brainard, Positively Filipino)
How Filipinos Are Coping With Covid, Part Two (C. Brainard, PF
How Filipinos Are Coping With Covid-19, Part Three (C.Brainard, PF)

Covid-19: An Encounter with a Bee During Quarantine

Interviews follow:
Lia Feraren, Germany
Teresa Concepcion, Canada
 Ofelia Gelvezon Tequi, France
Reine Marie Bonnie Melvin, France
New Zealand: Jay Montilla & Monika Tawngdee
Linda Ty-Casper, Massachusetts, USA
Barbara Ann Jacala, San Diego, CAUSA
Brian Ascalon Roley, Ohio, USA
Elizabeth Ann Besa-Quirino, USA
Interview of Cecilia Brainard by 95.9 Star FM Bacolod (DJ Billie), USA

Interviews of Filipino Americans #CopingWithCovid

All of the above links are part of the Philippine Covid Archive of Filipinas Heritage Library.

tags: #coronavirus #covid19 #covid #Filipinos #copingwithcovid #Paris #France #Europe #FilipinoFrench #FrenchFilipino #FilipinoAmerican #Bacolod #Philippines

Tags: coronavirus covid19 covid interview copingwithcovid US Bacolod Visayas Philippines California writer author

Friday, September 4, 2020

The Class Reunion - Remembering the Salmon Run by Cecilia Brainard


 

To honor my classmate Maricel Lopez Hahn who passed away last Aug. 27, 2020, I am sharing this personal essay that was first published in Tomas Vol 2, Issue 12, 2nd Semester 2017-2018 (The Journal of the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies).


The Class Reunion: Remembering the Salmon Run

by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard 
Copyright 2017 and 2020 by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard


Aside from the two who lived in Toronto, the women who showed up for our class reunion in Toronto travelled from the Philippines, US, UK, and even Switzerland -- twenty-four women, college classmates, friends from Maryknoll days. I hadn’t seen many of them in decades and had lost the threads of their life stories. In many ways, they were strangers to me, but there were a few commonalities that we shared. Most of us were transplants from the Philippines. Many had left Manila in the years following our 1969 graduation. 

Eve La Salle Caram & Cecilia Brainard Authors of Two Novellas

 




Autbors of two novellas in the book PLEASE, SAN ANTONIO! & MELISANDE IN PARIS, Eve La Salle Caram and Cecilia Brainard. The novellas are set in Rome and Paris about women seeking healing. Amazon has both hard copy and Kindle formats of this book on sale.



It is also available from Barnes and Noble Online, in which there is a nice review of it that says:
"Great Summer Read that Takes you to Italy & France: I love this book of two novellas by two creative writing teachers. One story is set in Italy and the other in Paris, and so reading the book is like taking a vacation. The protagonists are women who find healing in relationships. There's good writing in these gentle lovely stories. The book also has delightful illustrations by Nina Lim-Yuson. I enjoyed this book very much."



Tags: book, books, international, women, Italy, France, Rome, Paris, love, healing, #summerreading2020
 


Thursday, September 3, 2020

Cecilia Brainard Updates on Filipino & FilAm Books by PALHBOOKS

 

Cecilia Brainard gives an update on the Filipino and Filipino American books published by Philippine American Literary House (PALH), palhbooks.com. It's on YouTube here. The narrative is pasted below:


Cecilia Brainard here, writer editor and publisher of PALH or Philippine American Literary House.

Interview of Cecilia Brainard by DJBillie of 95.9 Star FM Bacolod

 


Interview of Ceciila Brainard by DJBillie of 95.9 Star FM Bacolod will air soon: In California, it will air on Friday, September 4, 2020 at 6 p.m. In the Philippines, it will air on Saturday September 5, 2020 at 9 a.m. in the Philippines.

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

RIP Maricel Lopez Hahn Maryknoller - Pictures, Remembrances

 My classmate from Maryknoll College Quezon City, Maricel Lopez Hahn, passed away last August 27, 2020 from leukemia. 

To honor her, I am sharing remembrances and pictures of her.

  • Here is a personal essay that I wrote about that Toronto Reunion, The Class Reunion: Remembering the Salmon Run - click on link below.

https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-class-reunion-remembering-salmon.html 

  • Marissa Tay also remembers Maricel Lopez Hahn here:  

https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2020/09/remembering-maryknoller-maricel-lopez.html

Maricel is wearing black and white in the photo directly below this one, seated far left. You can find her in the other pictures. We had a joyous time at the Toronto reunion. 




Maricel Lopez Hahn if seated far right, in black and white.