Book Launches for How I Became a Writer 2: Essays by Filipino Writers

 

I am happy to announce that the anthology, HOW I BECAME A WRITER 2: ESSAYS BY FILIPINO WRITERS, (Vibal 2026, Ed Cecilia Manguerra Brainard) will be launched in Cebu and in Manila:

Saturday, September 5, 2026, 3 pm - Lost Books Cebu, CAO Mercado Bldg, Osmena Blvd, Cebu City - Editor Cecilia Brainard and Contributor Danton Remoto will be there;

Saturday, September 12, 2026, 5 pm - Vibal launch at the MIBF, Vibal booth (Booth Nos. 189–193 and 204–209, Aisles K & L) Manila International Book Fair 2026 at SMX Convention Center Manila.

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I am sharing my Introduction to the collection. Check out Vicente Rafael's contribution and a review of the first volume of How I Became a Writer - see Read also at the bottom. The names of the 25 contributors and the blurbs are on the back of the cover, above. 

INTRODUCTION

copyright 2026 by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

THE FIRST VOLUME OF How I Became a Writer: Essays by Filipino Writers, which was released in 2025, grew out of my personal curiosity about how other writers discovered their gift for writing. I wondered how they developed their talent to become the noted writers they now are. I invited my literary writer friends to share in my blog their personal journeys. The 22 authors’ personal stories by established writers revealed a lot about the creative process and at the same time, taught others “how to do it.”

Validation of the strength of the collection came in different forms. Vibal picked it up for publication; it is one of their best sellers. Philippine National Artist in Literature, Resil Mojares, who is reputed for his straight-talking, praised it saying: “How I Became a Writer: Essays by Filipino and Filipino American Writers offers intimate, fine-grained accounts in the making of what constitutes contemporary Philippine literature, provided by a remarkable set of Filipino writers in the Philippines and abroad, It is a book to be treasured.”

Further validation came when my Brazilian publisher picked up the book for translation into Portuguese. 

Gratified by the response to Volume 1 of How I Became a Writer, I went on to collect personal essays for Volume 2 of How I Became a Writer. I wanted this second volume to offer something different from the first volume. Aside from testimonials by fiction writers and poets, I wanted to hear the personal stories of non-fiction writers, including journalists, historians, and others, about their challenges and developments, as well as their contributions to Philippine writings.

I sought them out, but I quickly learned that one cannot box writers in categories; writers will write in different genres: a historian can be a journalist, a poet, a playwright, a memoirist, a fiction writer. This anthology includes such authors who write in various genres. The collection also includes playwrights, a chick-lit novelist, and a comic-book writer. The reader will find an amazing collection of testimonials by established Filipino writers from different parts of the world, who have something to say about their creative process and work.