TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Cecilia Brainard's THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW -- A Different Kind of Mystery/Detective Novel

Monday, August 2, 2021

Cecilia Brainard's THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW -- A Different Kind of Mystery/Detective Novel

A DIFFERENT KIND OF MYSTERY/DETECTIVE NOVEL - THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
PALH (Philippine American Literary House) is proud to announce the release of the US edition of the novel, THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW, by Filipina American author, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. The book is available in paperback from Amazon and other venues (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1953716148 ). It is also available in Kindle format.

The Philippine edition (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House) is available from Lazada and Shopee.

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's novel, THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW, is a literary mystery set in the Philippines in 1909, shortly after the Spaniards lost to the Americans, and the Americans occupied the Philippines. The widow Ines and her friend the French seamstress Melisande solve the crime of the dead priest in the creek in order to free the son of Ines from jail. Inspired by her great-grandmother who was the first woman publisher in the Philippines, Brainard has written a character-driven novel that raises interesting and complicated questions about morality and justice while the protagonist searches for the priest's true killer. What begins as a murder mystery transforms into something greater as love, loyalty and friendship are tested and refined. Shortlisted for the Inaugural Cirilo F. Bautista Prize for the Novel, Brainard's novel is a captivating read.
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the Filipino-American author and editor of over 20 books, including the novels: WHEN THE RAINBOW GODDESS WEPT, MAGDALENA, and THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW. Her SELECTED SHORT STORIES was recently released by the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House in 2021.
Born and raised in Cebu, Philippines, she migrated to the United States to do graduate work at UCLA. She draws from her Filipino and Filipino American experiences for her stories.
Aside from writing fiction, Cecilia has edited fiction and nonfiction collections, including the two volumes of Growing Up Filipino, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, Fiction by Filipinos in America, and more..
She has received awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship, a Brody Arts Fund Fellowship, an Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city of Cebu, a City of Los Angeles Cultural Grant, a Special Recognition Award from the Los Angeles Board of Education for her work dealing with Asian American youths, and more.
She has taught at the University of Southern California, UCLA, the Writers’ Program at UCLA-Extension, and the California State Summer School for the Arts. She continues to lecture and perform in literary arts venues such as Culture Rapide in Paris, Filipino American International Book Festivals, PEN, and Library events in Skokie Illinois, Jackson Tennessee, among others.
As a former Executive Board Member of the writers’ group PEN, she represented PEN USA West in International meetings in Barcelona and Santiago de Compostela. She served as an officer in such groups as Pacific Asian American Women Writers Wept, Arts & Letters at the Cal State University LA. She co-founded PAWWA (Philippine American Women Writers and Artists) a support group that received funding from the California Arts Council.
Her official website is ceciliabrainard.com .

tags: #womensleuths #detectivenovel #crimenovel #Philippinebooks #Philippinefiction

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.