My Friends, the Crows by Cecilia Brainard

 

My Friends, the Crows

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Years ago, we didn't have crows in our neighborhood. We had song birds, smaller-sized birds. I'm not sure when crows came around but suddenly they were on the sidewalks, on top of trees and electric lines. They came around to eat the bird food I left in our garden and they drank and bathed in the bird bath that I kept clean and filled. At some point a bird flu epidemic killed many crows but they came back.

One Spring morning I found a blue plastic ball right outside my kitchen door. It was the size of a Ping-Pong ball, with faceted sides. I’d never seen anything like it and I suspected it was left there for me, I saved it. I did some research and learned about the girl in Seattle who fed the crows in her garden and received gifts from them. When a crushed Styrofoam cup with a dead cockroach in it appeared in the same spot the ball had been, I felt certain a crow was giving me gifts. The appearance of another Styrofoam cup with gooey stuff in it sealed my conviction that a crow or crows had been leaving me these items.

Fracas Over Frankfurt Book Fair - Positively Filipino, Cecilia Brainard

 

From Positively Filipino: Last month, about 400 Filipino writers and publishers gathered in Frankfurt for the 76th annual Frankfurter Buchmesse, reputedly the world's largest book fair. As the 2025 Guest of Honor, Philippine books were front and center of the trade exhibition that allowed international literary agents, translators, and book distributors to negotiate deals. Was the Philippine participation (reportedly at a cost of hundreds of thousands of euros) worth it? Author/publisher Cecilia Brainard who was there gives us a participant's report.

***

Was the Philippines Star Turn at the Frankfurt Book Fair Worth the Fuss?

By Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/was-the-philippines-star-turn-at-frankfurt-book-fair-worth-the-fuss

Last month, about 400 Filipino writers and publishers gathered in Frankfurt for the 76th annual Frankfurter Buchmesse, reputedly the world's largest book fair. As the 2025 Guest of Honor, Philippine books were front and center of the trade exhibition that allowed international literary agents, translators, and book distributors to negotiate deals. Was the Philippine participation (reportedly at a cost of hundreds of thousands of euros) worth it? Author/publisher Cecilia Brainard who was there gives us a participant's report... Continue reading in Positively Filipino.

#phlgoh25

#imaginationpeoplestheair

#frankfurtbookfair2025

#philippinesaaguestofhonor

  #nbdb

 #FBM2025 #fbm25

 #PHLGoh

 #GoH2025

 #philippinesfrankfurt2025

At the Fair with Cecilia Manguerra Brainard and Mai Khaled by Catia Castilho Simon

 

At the Fair with Cecilia Manguerra Brainard and Mai Khaled

By CÁTIA CASTILHO SIMON*

Published in REDE ESTACAO DEMICRACIA, Nov 7, 2025 -  https://red.org.br/noticias/na-feira-com-cecilia-manguerra-brainard-e-mai-khaled/

Well, the 71st Porto Alegre Book Fair has come to an end, and beyond the excitement of the individual and group autograph sessions, the highlight for me in this edition was the meeting on November 5th with the writers Cecília Manguerra Brainard, from the Philippines, and Mai Khaled from Egypt, who brought their books for our conversation. At the end of the afternoon, both signed their works translated into Portuguese by Isabela Figueira, through the São Paulo-based publisher, Rua do Sabão.

Cecilia Brainard's Foreign Publishers Who are Writers - Leonardo Garzaro, Nenad Šaponja, Dejan Trajkoski

 

I am featuring my foreign publishers of translations of my works who are also writers.

Leonardo Garzaro runs Editor Rua do Sabao and other publishing houses in Brazil, and he has translated into Portuguese my novel, WHEN THE RAINBOW GODDESS WEPT, and my SELECTED SHORT STORIES. He is currently negotiating with my agent the translation of more of my titles.

Leonardo Garzaro is is an author and journalist. Born in São Paulo in 1983, he has founded various publishing houses and edited dozens of books. His debut, children’s book THE LION'S SMILE,THE GUARDIAN OF NAMES, THE HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS, among others, has been translated into several languages, including Arabic, English, Spanish, Turkish, and more.  He has a number of stories published in publications such as Literal Latin Voices.

His short story, The Fanatic's Story, can be read in Latin American Literature Today. 

https://latinamericanliteraturetoday.org/2023/12/the-fanatics-story/

Nenad Šaponja is a poet, essayist, psychiatrist, critic, editor and founder of the publishing house Agora (which published by novel THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW).

Nenad has published the following poetry collections: Giokonda, Mirror in Two Souls, Obviousness, The Sea, Four Poems, Sweet Death, Is There a Touch of Your Soul, I seem, therefore I am Not, I descend into the Silence the Weight of a Thrown Dice and The Psychology of Gravity. His books of essays and literary criticism encompass: Baedeker Doubts, The Autobiography of Reading and The Experience of Writing. His travelogue is And Brussels is Easy To Get Around is widely read.

He has also published anthologies: The Anthology of Contemporary Stories from Novi Sad, The Most Wonderful Short Stories by Pavle Ugrinov, The Anthology of Stories from Novi Sad, The Prosveta’s Book of Crime Stories, The Glass Grass by Tanja Kragujević, The New Story of Novi Sad, The New Story of Novi Sad: a prose panorama and others. 

Šaponja is the recipient of the following awards: the “Branko” award for the best book of poetry; the “Prosveta” award for his book of essays Baedeker Doubts; the “Milan Bogdanović” award for the best literary criticism; the “Miroslav Antić” award for the book of poetry; the “Moma Dimić” award for his travelogue And Brussels Is Easy To Get Around; the “Kočić’s Feather” award for his poetry book The Psychology of Gravity ; the “Teodor Pavlić” award also for the book The Psychology of Gravity; the “November Charter of Novi Sad”, the “Stevan Pešić” award once again for his book of poems The Psychology of Gravity and the “Laza Kostić” award for the aforementioned book (The Psychology of Gravity).

His work has been widely translated.

Read more about Nenad: https://en.vijesti.me/fun/202548/Nenad-Saponja%2C-the-greatest-achievement-in-life-is-when-we-come-to-poetry 

https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/28/article/952224/pdf

Dejan Trajkoski is a writer, poet, editor, translator, festival selector, and he also runs the publishing house, Prozart Media, which translated my novels: MAGDALENA and THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW. 

 

Born 1977 in town of Prilep, he has a degree in Philosophy. Dejan is author of the novels “Truth. Love ( Rashomon) “ (2012) and “Infidelity” (2014), which are widely translated. He is a member of the International Federation of Film Critics FIPRESCI, also a member of the Writers Association of Macedonia. 

 

Dejan's publishing house Prozart media is organizer of the International Literature Festival PRO-ZA Balkan and of the first publishing Felllowship program in Eastern Europe, the Skopje Fellowship Program, established in 2014. Using this platform, we have hosted dozens of foreign writers and publishers in Skopje. We are award-winning publishing house that publishes a wide range of titles in segments such as fiction, YA and children literature.

         Read more: 

https://dalkeyarchive.store/products/infidelity

          My foreign publishers as featured at the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair; and the translations of my work celebrated at the Frankfurt Book Fair. 

 

#GoH2025 

#FrankfurtBookFair2025 #ImaginationPeoplestheAir 

#fbm25 

Filipiniana Dresses to Show Filipino Pride

 

Filipiniana dress 

I like to wear Filipina dresses when I'm at book events, and people seem to appreciate them. Here are pictures taken at the Porto Alegre Book Fair and at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Many people ask about the dress;  material, embroidery, history. I enjoy talking about our classic Filipina dresses because the delicate and time-consuming craftsmanship of Pina or callado are impressive.

#filipinianadress 

#FilipinianaAttire

#FilipinoPride

#filipinadress

#imaginationpeoplestheair

#phlgoh2025

#fbm2025

#frankfurterbuchmesse

#philippinesasguestofhonor

Porto Alegre Book Fair - Podcast (Video) Interview of Cecilia Brainard and Mai Khaled

Porto Alegre Book Fair -- Brazil 

Feiradolivro - Podcast, video with Filipino author Cecilia Brainard & Egyptian author Mai Khaled 

At Porto Alegre Book Fair, there was a lively interview discussion that looked at the backgrounds and literatures of Egyptian Novelist, Mai Khaled, and me, as a Filipino author.  Here is the You Tube link. 

https://www.youtube.com/live/yNYc8oFrPEc?si=sp76etMm_y6xf-Rp

#portoalegrebookfair

#feiradolivro 

#PhlGoH2025 

#ImaginationPeoplestheAir 

#FBM2025 

Brazil 2025 - Faces to Remember

 

Leonardo Garzaro, Isabela Figueira, their son, Mai Khaled, Cecilia Brainard, Garzaro children

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, I had the pleasure of seeing my Brazilian publisher Leonardo Garzaro, again. I had met him in Frankfurt. I had the added pleasure of meeting his wife, Isabela Figueira, who translated into Portuguese my books: When the Rainbow Goddess Wept and my Selected Short Stories. I also met their lovely children who reminded me of my grandchildren with their curiosity and energy. 

In fact, I met many lovely people in Brazil.

The Egyptian novelist, Mai Khaled, and I were together in Porto Alegre and Sao Paulo, and we shared many adventures together!

In Porto Alegre, Morgana Baldiserra was our "Angel" - literally the name of her job because she took care of us, picked us up at the airport, escorted us everywhere to make sure we were safe, on time, etc. Further she also acted as translator for our podcast interview.  Her memory in remembering what was said was impressive.

At the Porto Alegre Book Fair, everyone was so kind and friendly at every turn, the women interviewers for the podcast and program (Sabrina Thamazi and Catia Simon respectively) highly intelligent and well-prepared. The photographers made sure they took nice photos of us.  Production people, everyone great. I appreciated very much the care and respect extended to us. 

Here are some photos, and I'll add to these, so check back.  

Isabela Figueira, Cecilia Brainard

Leonardo Garzaro, Isabela Figueria

Podcast Crew

 

L-r; Morgana Baldissera, Cecilia Brainard, Sabrina Thomazi, Mai Khaled 

l-r: Mai Khaled, Catia Simon, Cecilia Brainard

clockwise from left: Wilson Loria, Leonardo Garzaro, Cecilia Brainard, Mai Khaled

Cecilia Brainard books translated into Portuguese by Leonardo Garzaro (Editora Rua do Sabao) and translated by Isabela Figueira

Tags: Feira do Livro Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre Book Fair, Brazil Book Fair, #booksphilippines

Sao Paulo Brazil Tour 3 -- Pinoteca and more

 

Sao Paulo, Brazil tours

Today I visited the Pinoteca de Sao Paulo, which has museums and beautiful gardens. I loved the architecture of the Pinoteca, and the gardens include huge old trees, fountains, statues, gazebos, and a small ancient guardhouse that makes you imagine the past grandeur of this palace. (It must have been a palace of sorts.)

Cebu Lessons Learned from Uwan Super Typhoon

 

Back in California from the Porto Alegre Book Fair and visit to Sao Paulo, I'm now looking carefully at what Cebuanos suffered from the back to back typhoons that slammed my hometown of Cebu and dumped a lot of rain.

I am deeply sorry about the deaths and destruction. 

 I'm reading of people and the government finding someone to blame. A developer of terraced housing in the mountain right above the city is scrutinized. The government is also blamed for why waterways did not allow rain water to flow to the sea. Settlers along river banks and on dry river beds are blamed. Etc.

Sao Paulo Brazil Adventure -- Day 2

 

November 7, 2025

Today the Egyptian writer Mai Khaled and I struck out on our own to do some sightseeing. First of all, Sao Paulo is huge, sprawling, and somewhat chaotic; second, Formula 1 is here and all hotel rooms in Sao Paulo are booked so we are staying outside of the city proper. Usually I like to stay in the center of cities for easy access to historic places. Since this was not the situation, we had to plan our trip to the city, making sure to see as many places as possible.

We did that, and quite successfully, thanks to AI, hotel staff, and Uber ---yaay!!

Sao Paulo, Brazil Adventure - day 1

Mai Khaled and Cecilia Brainard 

 The "perfect days" we've been having ended yesterday, Thursday November 6. First, at the Porto Alegre airport, we waited at the wrong area, next as we were being checked at the X-ray section, I was stopped to be checked -- palms and backpack inspected. Then later Mai was called to remove her battery pack from one of her suitcases.

Further we learned we didn't have hotel rooms reserved and Leonardo sent messages about booking us between a hotel outside of Sao Paulo versus a BNB on Paulista Street or area. We chose the BNB for the location, but when we arrived Sao Paulo and were met by the taxi driver were informed we would be staying at the Comfort hotel rather than the BNB.

Mai had some other difficulties but the "bad streak ended" at 6 pm when Leonardo picked us up for a ride and dinner and dessert in Sao Paulo.

Sao Paulo reminds me of Manila - huge, sprawling, busy, crowded city.

So, here we are through Saturday for Mai and Sunday for me.

PS: I was heartened to hear from Lorena who picked up a copy of the Portuguese translation of my Selected Short Stories at the Porto Alegre Book Fair. She writes:

"Cecilia, I started to read your beautiful book. I was searching for the story about the woman who wanted to wear a wedding dress that didn't fit her. I ended up reading the other one named The Turkish Dressmaker.

Wow. I love it. So intense and beautiful."

I also just fully realized that my Brazilian publisher only publishes award-winning books and authors for his imprint Editora Rua do Sabao. I was happy that my Selected Short Stories found this home here in Brazil.

Lorena is one of the beautiful women in the group photo of women.

Tags; Sao Paulo adventure, #booksphilippines #filiponowriter #filipinonovels

Porto Alegre Brazil Book Fair -- Day 2

 

Today was a busy but highly satisfying day. Egyptian novelist Mai Khaled and I had mini- interviews for publicity purposes, photo shoot, 30- minute podcast interview, a 1 hour plus book talk/discussing led by writer Catia Castilho Simon. Book signing followed.

I must commend the organizers, who despite the number of authors they had to deal with, treated Mai and me with great care. We had an escort assigned to us during our stay here. People were courteous and very kind to us at every turn. Everything was managed in a professional and at the same time warm and personal way. 

It was the same the with the audience. They were attentive and genuinely interested and appreciative of what we had to offer. 

Porto Alegre Brazil Book Fair -Day 1

 

Egyptian novelist Mai Khaled and I are in Porto Alegre, Brazil for the book fair. Our Brazilian publisher and translator Leonardo Garzaro /Editors Rua do Sabao arranged for our participation.

It was a long trip for Mai and me, but we made it. Morgana Baldissera met us at the airport with a car and driver to take us to our hotel in the historic district. 

After we rested, Morgana took us to lunch and a walking tour, allowing us to see the old buildings, 1869 marketplace, fairgrounds, agricultural exhibit. 

Porto Alegre is situated at the junction of 5 rivers. It is an important port and business center. The book fair that is 71 yrs old is an important event of this place and it enjoys the support of the public and corporate sponsors. I was impressed that on a Tuesday afternoon, the book fair and related events had many people. The book talks were full.

Our real obligations are tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Here are some pictures.

Mai Khaled and Cecilia Brainard