TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Fil Am Writers Gather in Santa Monica, CA

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Fil Am Writers Gather in Santa Monica, CA

A group of us had lunch at my home with the writer Brian Ascalon Roley (author American Son) who's visiting Santa Monica, CA. Present were: Joselyn Geaga-Rosenthal, Brian Roley, Marilyn Alquizola (America is in the Heart: a Personal History revised), Jaime Geaga, Noel Alumit (author Letters to Montgomery Clift), and me.

We had such great fun talking about literature, politics, being Filipino/Fil-am, and other topics.

We are planning another get together when Brian returns, and that will be in Historic Filipino Town, LA.

I'm sharing photos that we took. The selfie shows, l-r: Noel, Jaime, Cecilia (in red) , Brian, Joselyn (in yellow), and Marilyn.

We missed Herminia Menez Coben, Paulino and Barbara Lim.

Tags: Filipino American writers, FilAm writers, FilAm literature

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.