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.
Cecília has brought together Selected Stories, organized into three parts; the first focuses on the fictional Ubec (Cebu spelled backwards, the city where the writer was born). The second part includes other references to the Philippines, and it's worth noting that the country comprises more than seven thousand islands. The third part explores other parts of the world, since the writer was born and raised in the Philippines and lived in the USA as an adult. Her stories delicately express the vibrant culture of her native country and its diversity. There were Spanish, American, and Japanese occupations, the well-known dictatorship of Marcos, and other historical circumstances that shape the plots. Characters reveal themselves in layers throughout the various stories. Attention is needed while reading, as characters reappear and bring other threads of complexity. Footnotes introduce us to the fundamental elements of Philippine culture, demonstrating the author's care and sensitivity towards the Brazilian reader who knows little about her people. A prolonged look into the lives of women reveals the commitment of those who know where they came from, unveiling the threads that unite us regardless of flags, borders, and hemispheres.
Mai Khaled presents *The Magic of Turquoise*, a novel that alternates between two voices: Nirvana, or Nunu, who is in a coma after being injured at sea by a jet ski, and her niece, Leila. The young woman has a strong relationship with her aunt and feels tormented by the accident that claimed the life of the most important person in her life ever since her mother decided to leave. Like Nunu, Leila also lacked the courage to pursue her dream. Nunu's ideal was visual arts, her niece's was acting. The young woman thinks that her aunt, frustrated by her giving up, might have attempted suicide. There is a profound connection between the two women that reveals the rigid family structures in Cairo, especially regarding the expectations and destinies of women.
The richness of the works of the writers mentioned here speaks volumes about the challenges these women have faced. Cecilia Brainard is the author and editor of 22 books. She co-founded PAWWA (Filipino-American Writers and Artists), founded PALH (Philippine American Literary House), and worked with young Asian Americans, for which she received a Special Recognition Award from the Los Angeles Board of Education, among many other significant achievements in her biography. Awards she has received for her books include the Philippine National Book Award , the Gintong Aklat Award , and the International Gourmand Award , among others. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish . Since 2024, translations of selected novels and short stories have been completed into Greek, Portuguese, and Japanese. Mai Khaled is a novelist with a degree in Communication from the American University in Cairo. In addition to her writing, she works as a radio announcer and television translator. With the book Academia , also published by Rua do Sabão publishing house, he received the award for best novel at the Cairo International Book Fair in 2016.
This encounter offered more than just drinking from the source – the slogan of the 71st Fair; it allowed us to dive into the source, emerge in uncharted rivers and seas, and be surprised by the unique and powerful writing of these writers from distant lands. Conclude with me, readers, Cecília and Mai are now also close acquaintances of ours, as are Sandra, Sônia, Lilian, Marta, and Nóia, and we want more from them.
*Cátia Castilho Simon is a retired teacher from RME/Porto Alegre, a writer, and a poet.
Cover photo: Eduardo Fernandes
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