Interview of Cecilia Brainard by Venice Rian Ong

 

Photo taken at literary event hosted by Cebuano Studies Center last Feb. 2023

Venice Rian Ong, 12th grader from Saint Lorenzo Ruiz school in Cebu interviewed me recently.  I am sharing his questions and my answers.

1.       When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? 

While I’d been writing since I was around 9 or 10 years old, I didn’t fully realize I wanted or was meant to be a writer until I was a grown woman with three young children.

Let me elaborate: After my father died when I was nine, I began writing him letters to update him of my life. These were my early writings. When I was a teenager I began diary writing. I always enjoyed writing, but after high school I thought I wanted to be an engineer. Later I thought I wanted to be a film maker. It was this interest in film making that led me to California where I went to film school at UCLA. I discovered that film making is an expensive and highly collaborative venture. I did not pursue this career.

            By this time I was a young wife and mother and focused on taking care of my family. It was during this time when stories would come into my head and I had to write them down. I later took Creative Writing Classes at UCLA-Extension’s Writers Program to learn the craft and business. Bit by bit I started to get stories published. But it wasn’t until the children were in school and I looked for work and found work as a fund raiser when I realized that I couldn’t work, take care of the family, and write. I talked to my husband about this and he told me to do what I wanted to do. I told the office that was ready to hire me that I couldn’t take the job, and I decided then to be a writer and take care of my family. 

 

My Book Donations to Philippine Libraries via Christian Acevedo

 

 

I donated books for Philippine Libraries via Christian George Acevedo, librarian/teacher/scholar at the Capiz Philippines Main Library.  He distributed them to other librarians.  Thank you, Christian, and best wishes to Philippine librarians.

The books I sent included most of my titles and more.  Please visit my official site, ceciliabrainard.com for information about my books.  

#filipinobooks #filipinoliterature #filipinolibraries #capizlibraries

Watch also: THE CEBUANA IN THE WORLD: Cecilia Manguerra Brainard Writing out of Cebu

Belgium in April: Get Me to the Nunnery by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard in Positively Filipino

 

I'm sharing the link to my recent article in Positively Filipino "Belgium in April: Get Me to the Nunnery." It is a travel article that involves my my search for the roots of my Belgian nuns at St. Theresa's College Cebu and Manila. Mother Marie Louise De Meester, the foundress of the ICM sisters, was born in Roesalare, Belgium and who became a nun at Ypres, Belgium, which I visited.

http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/belgium-in-april-get-me-to-the-nunnery

"In April, when the weather was cold, I found myself in Belgium. We were there on a Netherlands-Belgium river cruise because my husband wanted to catch the tulip bulbs in full bloom in Amsterdam. The bulbs are in bloom only for a few weeks from late March to early May. Our river cruise included stops in the Netherlands and Belgium, with a grand finale at the Keukenhof tulip garden in Lisse, southwest of Amsterdam..." Please read on in the PF site. 

#tags: travel, Europe, Belgium, low countries, ICM nuns. STC sister, religious nuns, Philippine education