Celebrating Translations of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's Fiction, 1 pm. Oct. 17 FBM25

 

COMING UP at the Frankfurt Book Fair this October 17, 2025:

Celebrating Translations of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's Fiction

October 17, 2025, 1 pm

Pilipinas Stage, Philippine Stand, Hall 5.1 A95 & B95

Frankfurt Book Fair

Description of the Program:

Have you ever wondered how to get your books translated into other languages?

Join us to hear what Cecilia Manguerra Brainard’s literary agent and publishers have to say, as we celebrate the translations of her novels and Selected Short Stories into Arabic, Greek, Slovenian, Portuguese, Macedonian, Japanese, Serbian, and Azerbaijan.

Cecilia is the author of over 20 books, including the novels, When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, Magdalena, The Newspaper Widow; and her Selected Short Stories.

Literary Agent, Senja Pozar, will start the talk, followed by the publishers:

Filip Batkoski (Bata Press, North Macedonia),
Leonardo Garzaro (Editora Rua do Sabao, Brazil),
Nenad Saponja (Agora, Serbia)  

Mohamed Radi (Egyptian Office for Publishing and Distribution),
Dejan Trajkoski (Prozart Media, North Macedonia), and
Dimitris Tsoukatos (Lemvos Editions, Greece).

Messages from Brainard’s other foreign publishers will be shared: Genki Shobou, Japan; and Qanun, Azerbaijan.

***

P R E S S   R E L E A SE - 9/16/25

PALH

3030 18^th Street

Santa Monica, CA 90405, USA

Email: palhbooks@gmail.com

 

 

INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS CELEBRATE CECILIA MANGUERRA BRAINARD’S TRANSLATIONS AT FRANKFURT BOOK FAIR

  

Six international publishers will gather at the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 17, 2025 to celebrate foreign translations of fiction by the award-winning Filipino author Cecilia Manguerra Brainard.

“Celebrating Translations of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard’s Fiction” will also provide a forum for these noted publishers to share their publishing expertise to the audience. The event is one of the many programs presented by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and National Book Development Board where the Philippines is the Guest of Honour country at the 77^th Frankfurt Book Fair 2025.

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the author and editor of over 20 books, including her Selected Short Stories and her novels: When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, Magdalena, and The Newspaper Widow. A leading fictionist in the Philippines, many of Brainard’s stories explore historical events in the Philippines, memorializing how the Filipino people have endured its turbulent history with resilience and humanity. Brainard’s work has been translated into 14 languages. 

Cecilia’s literary agent who also translated and edited her novel, The Newspaper Widow (for Super založba), will lead the talks. Senja Požar, founder of Ljubljana Book Academy, has nearly 30 years publishing experience, holding roles as editor, editorial director, and editor-in-chief for fiction, non-fiction, textbooks, reference works, education books, and magazines. Since 2016 she advanced international cooperation for Mladinska knjiga and Cankarjeva založba, working on Frankfurt 2023 and Bologna 2024 GOH. She later launched the Academy, became editor-in-chief, represents IRCAI under UNESCO, and since 2020 has been part of Publishers Without Borders.

From Skopje, North Macedonia, Filip Batkoski translated Brainard’s novels, Magdalena and The Newspaper Widow. Batkoski has been working in the publishing industry since 2011 as the manager of Bata Press, a family-run publishing house founded by his father, Nenad Batkoski. Under his leadership, Bata Press has developed into a respected name in Macedonian publishing, known for its dedication to literature and its support of local and international authors. Committed to promoting Macedonian literature and building cross-cultural connections, Filip continues to lead Bata Press with passion and vision.

Publisher Leonardo Garzaro, who hails from Sao Paulo, Brazil, published Brainard’s Selected Short Stories and her novel When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, under the imprint of his publishing house Editora Rua du Sabao. Leonardo Garzoro, who is a writer himself, has published dozens of books, including his recent novel, the Guardian of Names, which was published in four countries and was nominated for the Jabut Award for Literature. He currently writes for two of Brazil’s largest newspapers. He is also a Brazilian literature consultant for the publishers in Argentina, Mexico; Ecuador, and the Turkish agency Introtema.

            Cairo-based Mohamed Radi translated Brainard’s three novels into Arabic under the imprint of the Egyptian Office for Publishing and Distribution of Publications. Radi is the Director and Founder of the independent publishing house that has produced more than 1,000 titles by leading Arab authors and writers. It has translated more than 200 titles from various languages. Mohamed is vice-president of the African Publishers Network. He has worked in public service as an elected board member, held several positions as Chairman of the Media Committee of the Egyptian publishers and Secretary-General of the Egyptian Publishers Association.

            Nenad Šaponja translated into Serbian Cecilia Brainard’s novels, Magdalena and The Newspaper Widow under the imprint of Agora Publishing House. Šaponja is the owner and editor-in-chief of Agora, which he founded in 2002. It is one of the most renowned in the Balkans, through which he has edited and published more than 400 titles.

            Šaponja, who lives in Novi Sad, Serbia, began his career as a neuropsychiatrist. He later followed his innermost calling and started writing poetry. His poetry fuses his backgrounds as neuropsychiatrist and poet, and gives a deep insight into the human mind. His verses are recognizable in contemporary Serbian poetry due to their stylistic perfection, hermetic quality and metaphysical insight. His poetry has been translated into more than ten languages and has received prestigious regional awards. An essayist and literary critic as well, he has published eight books of poetry, three books of literary criticism, and a travel book,

Dejan Trajkoski, from North Macedonia, is a publisher, writer, poet, and editor. He is the founder and director of the publishing house Prozart Media, the International Literature Festival PRO-ZA Balkan, and the Skopje Fellowship Program—the first publishing fellowship in Eastern Europe (and the only one in the region until 2021), established in 2013. His philosophical novel Infidelity has been translated into nine languages, including English, German, and Turkish. He published translations Cecilia’s When the Rainbow Goddess Wept and her Selected Short Stories.

From Athens, Dimitris Tsoukatos, heads Lemvos Editions which published Cecilia’s novel Magdalena. With a strong background in finance, Dimitris has led the publishing house since 2015 to publish quality works from young Greek writers and it also translates important works of world literature.

            Publishers who were unable to attend sent messages.

Dr. Takuya Matsuda, who translated Cecilia’s World War II novel When the Rainbow Goddess Wept for Genki Shobou in Tokyo wrote:

“I translated Ms. Brainard’s When the Rainbow Goddess Wept into Japanese because I wanted readers in Japan to read and feel this powerful story of war, memory, and resilience in their own language. In doing so, I hoped to create a bridge between the Philippines and Japan, two countries with intertwined histories, so that readers may reflect not only on the traumas of the past but also on the possibilities of empathy and healing. I believe such reflections are especially important in today’s world. My wish is that my translation will help foster deeper cross-cultural dialogue and understanding, and that Ms. Brainard’s moving narrative will continue to inspire strength and hope in new readers.”

Jale Mammedova from Qanun Publishing House in Azerbaijan who translated Brainard’s When the Rainbow Goddess Wept said:

“The theme of war, sadly, is not unfamiliar to the Azerbaijani people; it is, rather, a wound that lies painfully close to the heart. Having endured two devastating wars in the past thirty-five years, the sensitive hearts of Azerbaijani readers will inevitably be profoundly touched by this novel. No matter how different traditions and ways of life may be, there are times when nations separated by vast distances are bound together by the same unspeakable tragedies – and war is one such force that unites through sorrow. At the same time, the legends and epics woven into the novel also feel strikingly familiar to Azerbaijanis… it is hard to label this novel as purely national; it is, in essence, universal, for the sufferings the author portrays are ones that peoples across the world have inevitably experienced, in different eras and in countless forms.”

            The event will be held at the Pilipinas Stage, Philippine Stand, Hall 5.1 A95 & B95, Frankfurt Book Fair, October 17, at 1 pm. Tina Pangan of the Translation Committee of the National Book Development Board will give the welcome and closing remarks.

            For further information, please contact palhbooks@gmail.com.

~end~

tags: #FBM25 #GOH2025 #imaginationPeoplestheAir #PHLGOH2025 

#booksphilippines #Frankfurtbookfair  #Frankfurterbuchmesse #PhilippinesGuestofHonour #nbdbphilippines

READ ALSO:

Publishers of Cecilia Brainard's Foreign Translations 

Filip Batkoski (Bata Press) 

Leonardo Garzaro (Editor Rua do Sabao) 

Senja Pozar - Literary Agent

Dimitris Tsoukatos (Lemvos Editions) 

Mohamed Radi (Egyptian Office for Publishing and Distribution

Dejan Trajkoski (Prozart Media)

 Nenad Saponja (Agora)

Jale Memmedova (Qanun Publishing House)

Dr. Takuya Matsuda (Genki Shobou)

Love Stories 

The Mechanism of Moving Forward by Nikki Alfar - Love Stories Series #1

            A Simple Grace by Geronimo Tagatac - Love Stories Series #2 

            The Virgin's Last Night by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard  - Love Stories Series #3 

            Fossil by Angelo R. Laceusta - Love Stories Series #4

           Rose Petal Tea and a Small Inn by the Sea by Susan Evangelista - Love Series #5

            Game by Melissa Salva - Love Stories Series #6

            An Affair to Remember by Paulino Lim, Jr. - Love Stories Series #7

             Compartments by Ian Rosales Casocot - Love Stories Series #8

Cecilia Brainard Fiction: The One-Night Stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair  

         Cecilia Brainard Fiction: After the Ascension 

            Celebrating Translations of  Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's Fiction

Compartments by Ian Rosales Casocot - Love Stories Series #8

 

From Cecilia Brainard: I am proud to share IAN ROSALES CASOCOT''s short story, COMPARTMENTS. This is part of my Love Stories Series featured in my blog. All articles and photos are copyrighted by the individual authors. All rights reserved. This is featured in my blog with permission from the author. 

IAN ROSALES CASOCOT teaches literature, creative writing, and film at Silliman University in Dumaguete City, Philippines where he was Founding Coordinator of the Edilberto and Edith Tiempo Creative Writing Center. He is the author of several books, including the fiction collections Don’t Tell Anyone, Bamboo Girls, Heartbreak & Magic, and Beautiful Accidents. He has won the Palanca nine times for his fiction, plays, and children’s poetry. In 2008, his novel Sugar Land was longlisted in the Man Asian Literary Prize. He was Writer-in-Residence for the International Writers Program of the University of Iowa in 2010, and produced the film City of Literature, directed by Zhao Lewis Liu. His website is http://eatingthesun.blogspost.com .

COMPARTMENTS

Copyright By Ian Rosales Casocot, all rights reserved. 

 

For L.

Something people will never understand, if ever I begin to tell the story of how we met, but more so how we made love for the last time, if making love were the right words for it: you had a small knife hidden in your pocket, and you were ready to kill me.

But I must tell you I’ve always understood perfectly why that was.

Years later, in unguarded moments when I find myself still thinking of you, I try to imagine what it would have been like if things turned out differently that night. What words I would have said, what frantic gestures I would have made, what degree deeper into the heat of anger we would have plunged to, to trigger a bloody end, and my death. Your knife upon my back, or protruding from a deep trembling wound on my side. My blood thick on your hands.

I would have said, “Dev, what have you done?”

The Journey by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard -- Weekend Reading in English and Bisaya

 

I am pleased to share a short story that I wrote that grew out of a minor character in my third novel, THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW. THE JOURNEY was first published in Bisaya or Cebuano in Katitikan: Literary Journal of the Philippine South on July 12, 2025. I am sharing the original English version and the Bisaya translation. 

THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW is an acclaimed literary mystery set in Ubec Philippines in 1909.  The novel has forthcoming translations in Arabic, Slovenian, Serbian, and Macedonian. For more information, click here https://ceciliabrainard.com/book/the-newspaper-widow/ .

 ~ Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

 

 

THE JOURNEY

Copyright 2025 by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. All Rights Reserved. 

THE JOURNEY was first published in Bisaya under the title ANG PAGLAKAW in Katitikan: Literary Journal of the Philippine South

Let us start here.

Imagine this: winds howling and toppling over trees, knocking off roof tiles; rain so thick you couldn’t see beyond your arm; water oozing into windows and doors; and she looking out her window and weighing what to do. Was she in a home, a hospital, a small room somewhere? What excuse did she give to explain why she was taking her newborn baby out? Or was she all by herself, with no one, so she could bundle me up, hug me close to her chest, throw covering over us, and step out into the darkness broken only by flashes of lighting in the sky. How far did she walk before she made it to the gate? And past the gate, she walked down the slippery road to the wall where the turning cradle was. Did she talk to me, say goodbye to me before she lay me there? Did she weep when she turned the wheel, listened to the metallic creaking that went on for an eternity until it stopped? She rang the bell, heard it echo within the walls of the Casa San Jose, listened for some movement behind the walls to indicate someone was there to receive me. Did she imagine the wet nurse wiping sleep from her eyes as she shuffled over to the turning cradle? How many heart beats passed before she turned and made her way back out, through the rain, darkness, and dangers that only Manila typhoons bring.

I’m talking about my mother.

            Your mother must have been desperate to give up a beautiful baby like you, people at the orphanage said.

I was soaked and limp like a small dead animal. All but the wet nurse had written me off as dead. But nurse removed my wet blanket and clothes, dried me off, wrapped me in a warm blanket, and she held me close to her breasts for more warmth and so I could smell her milk. She said it took a long time before I rooted for her breast and suckled.

An Affair to Remember by Paulino Lim, Jr. - Love Stories Series #7

From Cecilia Brainard: I am proud to share PAULINO LIM, JR.'s  short story, AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER. This is part of my Love Stories Series featured in my blog. This story first appeared in The Philippines Graphic Reader, June 2, 2025. It is featured in my blog with permission from the author.  

PAULINO LIM, JR. is a professor emeritus of English at California State University, Long Beach. He is a recipient of the 2016 Presidential Award for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas—for his fiction and scholarly essays that are constructive criticisms of the political, social, and religious problems in the Philippines. Also in 2016, his alma mater, the University of Santo Tomas, conferred upon him a lifetime achievement honor—the Parangal Hagbong Award—for significant contributions to Philippine literature.

AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER

Copyright by Paulino Lim, Jr. All rights reserved.

MONSIGNOR SULLIVAN WAS SEATED at his glass-topped desk, the letter from Vikings Cruise on a linen stationery before him. Should he take up the offer of a free cruise in exchange for serving as chaplain for two weeks on the ship?

He was wearing a black cassock and tinted lenses that highlighted his cropped white hair and shaven surf-tanned face. He looked up when he heard the knock, and said, “Come in. Oh, hello.”

His assistant Father Clive James was in his late forties, with his trimmed brown hair, metal-framed tinted glasses, hair on the chin but not the cheeks. He looked like a surgeon, except for the white alb he wore at the outdoor Mass on the playground of St. Ambrose Catholic School.

“How was Mass on the grass, Clive?”

“Just a couple of Southwest Airline planes that landed and took off from the Long Beach Airport. Deacon Charles delivered the homily.”

“When is he leaving for Florida, by the way?”

“End of the month, during school break.”

Game by Melissa Salva - Love Stories Series #6

 

From Cecilia Brainard: I am proud to share MELISSA SALVA'S short story, GAME. This is part of my Love Stories Series featured in my blog. Melissa's story developed in a Filipina Women's Writing Workshop, that included Melissa, Susan Evangelista, Cecilia Brainard, and Nadine Sarreal. This is featured in my blog with permission from the author. 

Writing Workshop in Tagaytay 2013 with l-r: Melissa Salva, Susan Evangelista, Cecilia Brainard, Nadine Sarreal

***

MELISSA SALVA  (aka Melissa Ramos) writes fiction, poetry, and children’s books. Her work appeared in national publications as well as in anthologies published in the Philippines, the US, and Singapore. She is the author of five books, including Marawi, Land of the Brave, which was shortlisted in the Philippines’ 6th National Children’s Book Awards. Her children’s book on the Spanish artist Juvenal Sansó is forthcoming.

 ***

GAME

Copyright by Melissa Salva. All rights reserved. 

THE CLOCK on the dashboard read 10:26. KC sighed and climbed out, because being late went against her nature. A time had been agreed upon. If it were merely a suggestion then it would have been vague (“between ten and eleven”) or implied (“brunch.”) She disliked the notion of suggestions. But for the time being, she was willing to wait before asking point-blank. She didn’t want to scare this one away.

None of her previous dates ever showed up on time. None of them referred to their meetings as dates, either. It confused her so much that she always pulled her wallet out when the waiter came with the bill. She insisted on paying her share so aggressively that the men could do nothing but concede. What she wanted to say was, “if this were a date, of course I’d let you pay.” But what came across was, “you didn’t say this was a date!”

After the Ascension by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard - Philippines Graphic Reader December 2024

 

My short short, AFTER THE ASCENSION, was published In December 2024 by the Philippines Graphic Reader

AFTER THE ASCENSION

Copyright 2024 by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

(Short Fiction in the Style of Joaquin Antonio Peñalosa’s God’s Diary)

 

            When the Cherubim settled down and the fluttering of wings turned into soft rustlings, the Father said, “So tell us, My Son, tell us, what happened.”

            The Father knew everything of course, from the time Gabriel greeted Miss Mary, every second, every heartbeat, every breath the Son made: the hammer in His hands when His earthly father taught him carpentry, the wine in the casket, Lazarus arising, the cross leaning heavy on His Son’s shoulders, the nails in His hands as he hung on the cross, the cry to Him—Eloi, Eloi—but He wanted to hear His Son tell the story of His Great Adventure. He wanted to hear His voice. Tell us, My Son.

            And so the Son spoke, and the Cherubim became excited at the boom of His human voice, at the veins throbbing on His neck as His words filled the air, and they marveled at the wounds in His hands glistening as He gestured for emphasize – (His earthly father had taught Him to do that); and the Cherubim tucked in their wings and whispered in great awe, “A Human, the Son is a real Human!”

The Son’s voice echoed throughout heaven and eternity, throughout time and infinity. And the Father and Cherubim listened, enraptured, and they laughed and marveled and wanted to weep. It was not just the Son’s words that moved them, but the sight of the wounds in His hands and feet, and that terrible jagged cut in His side. The wounds had dried blood in the center, and the flesh was red and blue at the edges. (Did the Son’s friend Thomas really ask to touch those ghastly wounds?)

            When the Son got to the part of blood and water gushing from the wound on His side, the Father had to ask, “Son, did you suffer much?”

            “Very much so, Father,” He replied, with forthrightness.

            There was silence for a long bit of eternity. No one had to say, I’m sorry You had to suffer all that pain and humiliation and die next to thieves, because You are the Father’s eternal Son—yes, Son of God the Father, Creator of everything—because the heavenly hosts knew.

            After the profound silence, the Son said, “It wasn’t a piece of cake. I really hated seeing the women crying, especially my Mother, but I had to do it. Only I could do it.”

            There was another hushed silence, after which the Father sighed and nodded, and He bent down to where His Son was seated and gently touched the awful wounds, and He peered through the wound at the Son’s side, and He was surprised that He could see all of mankind; and His heart went out to them.

 

~end~

The Philippines Graphic kindly cited the story at their 25th Nick Joaquin Literary Awards Night.

Read Also

Cecilia Brainard Fiction: The One-Night Stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair  

           Cecilia Brainard Short Short: My Mother's Skirts 

Love Stories Series

          The Mechanism of Moving Forward by Nikki Alfar - Love Stories Series #1

            A Simple Grace by Geronimo Tagatac - Love Stories Series #2 

        The Virgin's Last Night by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard  - Love Stories Series #3 

        Fossil by Angelo R. Lacuesta - Love Series #4

         Rose Petal and Tea and an Inn by the Sea by Susan Evangelista - Love Stories Series #5

         Game by Melissa Salva - Love Stories Series #6

          An Affair to Remember by Paulino Lim, Jr. - Love Series #7

         Compartments by Ian Rosales Casocot - Love Stories Series #8

             Married People by Noelle Q. de Jesus - Love Stories Series #9

              Afterbirth by Eileen Tabios - Love Stories Series #10

Tags: Philippine stories, Filipino fiction 

Rose Petal Tea and an Inn by the Sea by Susan Evangelista - Love Stories Series #5

 

From Cecilia Brainard: I am proud to share SUSAN EVANGELISTA'S short story, ROSE PETAL TEA AND AN INN BY THE SEA. This is part of my Love Stories Series featured in my blog. This is featured in my blog with permission from the author. 

***

SUSAN EVANGELISTA, born in Michigan, first went to the Philippines as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mindoro and Zamboanga. After two years she went back to the U.S., to the University of Wisconsin, and met and married University of the Philippines professor Oscar Evangelista. The couple returned to the Philippines and Susan spent her work life teaching, first in the English and Interdisciplinary Studies Departments of the Ateneo de Manila and then, after “retirement” in 2000, in the College of Teacher Education of Palawan State University. Teaching, she found, especially teaching Creative Writing, gave her much insight into her students’ lives. Concerned about the ignorance of many of her students in matters of reproductive health, she invited her daughter, who was in Public Health, to come to Palawan and together they started a nonprofit which provides sexual health education and clinical services to young people in Palawan. This organization has now been running for sixteen years and is flourishing.

Rose Petal Tea and an Inn by the Sea

Copyright by Susan Evangelista. All rights reserved.

 

            "IN MY COUNTRY,” he said in a soft, steady voice, “they used to burn widows to death on their husbands’ funeral pyres.” 

“‘Used to’ is the operative word, I hope,” she answered lightly, masking the chill his comment sent through her. 

True, she had felt like she wanted to die after she understood that her husband Stefan was absolutely, irrevocably dead. She’d fought the whole thing on every level, hadn’t really accepted the death – so sudden – until the burial was over and everyone went home. And then she mourned. But nearly as soon as her grieving started, she understood that she would come out the other side, forge a new life, find new, if less exuberant, joys. 

But she sometimes felt as if the people around her, even within her own family, didn’t think she had that right. 

Marcos Takeover Called Tyrannical, LA Times Letter to the Editor, by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

I found these in my old files - an October 1972 letter to the LA Times Editor. It was one of the first public denouncement of the Ferdinand Marcos Dictatorship. 

tags: Philippines Martial Law, Philippine Marcos Dictatorship, Philippine Martial Law, Ferdinand Marcos

EAD ALSO:

The Mechanism of Moving Forward by Nikki Alfar - Love Stories Series #1

            A Simple Grace by Geronimo Tagatac - Love Stories Series #2 

        The Virgin's Last Night by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard  - Love Stories Series #3 

Cecilia Brainard Fiction: The One-Night Stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair  

How I Became a Writer Series

Ian Rosales Casocot 

Caroline S. Hau

 Paulino Lim, Jr 

Tony Perez

Eileen R. Tabios

John Jack G. Wigley

Hope Sabanpan Y

Fossil by Angelo R. Lacuesta - Love Stories Series #4

 

From Cecilia Brainard: I am proud to share ANGELO R. LACUESTA'S short story, FOSSIL. This is part of my Love Stories Series featured in my blog.  Fossil first appeared in Sarge's collection CORAL COVE AND OTHER STORIES (UST PH 2017).  It was also published in Santelmo Journal (2025). This is featured in my blog with permission from the author. 

***

ANGELO R. LACUESTA is a fictionist and novelist who also writes screenplays and essays. He has written more than ten books and two screenplays, and has won many national awards for his writing. He has represented the Philippines at numerous literary and film festivals and conferences. He is the current president of the Philippine Centre of PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) International. 

His most recent book is the novel JOY, published by Penguin Random House SEA in 2022. In 2024 he wrote and produced the film “An Errand,” based on a short story he wrote, for the Cinemalaya Film Festival. It was selected as part of the Bright Futures section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). His upcoming novel IRÔ (Milflores, 2025) was selected as one of 10 novels to be presented for possible film adaptation at the “Books at Berlinale” section of the  2025 Berlinale Film Festival. In 2025, “Song of the Fireflies,” a film he also wrote and produced, had its international premiere at the Manila International Film Festival in Los Angeles, California. 

*** 

FOSSIL

Copyright by Angelo R. Lacuesta. All rights reserved.

 

WHENEVER EMILIANO DATOY was drunk he stood up and declaimed in straight English how he had served, as a young boy, at meetings of town elders during the years before the war. The elders he had served themselves had served at the councils in their younger years, in Spanish times and then American times, entertaining traders, envoys and soldiers passing through Nueva Florencia, which had always been a dismal halfway town between the busiest of the island’s ports.

But I remember that when he was sober, Datoy spoke only Bisaya and could not even eat unattended, and he saved his feeble voice for when he needed it to carry from the veranda where he liked to sun himself, across the second floor living room, to his great-grandniece’s bedroom.

She appeared shortly, a dark young girl in her teens dressed in a batik house duster, carrying with two hands a thick, heavy, rectangular thing wrapped in the kind of velvet they used to cover statues on Black Saturday. Upon the old man’s croaked order, the woman swept the velvet curtain aside to reveal a block of black, stony wood bearing the smoothened etching of a winged figure. Dr. Hill drew a small gasp of awe from his throat and we bent forward to inspect the image, our heads softly colliding in the process. There were other things: vertical shapes etched around the figure possibly representing humans, and below it an inscription in badlit.

“Pre-Hispanic,” she said, when the old man nudged her ribs with an arthritic knuckle, which then pointed at the inscription. “The dragon of the swamps,” she translated, and Datoy’s folded hand sprung into a triumphant V and dropped to his side where he’d kept a bottle of gin handy, which he seemed intent to nurse into the afternoon. 

Dr. Hill remained silent but I know that by now he had begun to harbor a distrust toward the situation, his voice caved-in with exhaustion when he followed up with the old man about the tooth fragment. I was sure it was the heat, too. Datoy barked and sent the girl swishing out on bare feet to return with what looked like—and was soon proven to be—a two-inch tooth fragment. This she surrendered to us, depositing it into a piece of bubble wrap we had prepared specifically for this purpose.

Dr. Hill inspected the specimen while trying to express all due respect. It was Datoy himself who had started everything. He had seen my photo in a press release in the Daily Freeman announcing my scholarship in London and cut it out, A photo of the tooth-chip was stapled to a letter, written by the girl, explaining how she had discovered it while she had been playing in the dusty hillsides that surrounded their town.

 

Now available at Amazon - How I Became a Writer

 

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳: 𝘌𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘰 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 is now available on Amazon! The book is edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard and features 22 personal stories by writers of diverse backgrounds, each reflecting on how writing has shaped their lives.

Click on the link and get your copies now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FLYNP1KC 

***

The 22 Contributors are: Merlie Alunan, Cecilia Brainard, Ian Casocot, Linda Ty-Casper, Aileen Cassinetto, Neni Sta. Romana Cruz, Jose Dalisay, Noelle de Jesus, Allan Derain, Migs Bravo Dutt, Yvette Fernandez, Caroline Hau, Luisa A. Igloria, Kristian Kordero, Paulino Lim, Jr., Tony Perez, Elmer Pizo, Joel Pablo Salud, Eileen Tabios, John Iremil Teodoro, John Jack Wigley, and Hope Sabanpan Yu.

PRAISE: 

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. ~ Resil B. Mojares, Philippine National Artist in Literature.

Tags: Philippine writers, Filipino authors, Filipino books

The Virgin's Last Night by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard - Love Stories Series #3

 

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, photo by Doreen Stone

 

From Cecilia Brainard: I am sharing my story, THE VIRGIN'S LAST NIGHT,  as part of my Love Stories Series featured in this blog. Earlier stories posted include Nikki Alfar's THE MECHANISM OF MOVING FORWARD and Geronimo Tagatac's  A SIMPLE GRACE.

My story, THE VIRGIN'S LAST NIGHT, was inspired by an unmarried aunt whose beau from her youth came around late in their lives, when he was a widower, and she still unmarried. She had spent most of her life taking care of her younger unmarried sister. In Cebu, they were referred to as the Old Maids living on Mango Avenue. My aunt sent the man away, ridiculing him (her nieces and nephews assumed) -- Are you out of your mind? At our age?

One day when I was already writing stories, I remembered my aunt and her old beau, and I wrote the “The Virgin’s Last Night.” The story flowed, with few revisions. 

This story first appeared in Going Home to a Landscape: Writings by Filipinas (Calyx Books); it also appeared in Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults (PALH & UST PH. It is part of my short story collection, Vigan and Other Stories (Anvil), and my Selected Short Stories (PALH and UST PH).

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BIO: Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the author and editor of over 22 books. She has written three novels: When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, Magdalena, and The Newspaper Widow. Her recent books include her Selected Short Stories and Growing Up Filipino 3: New Stories for Young Adults. Two books she edited were released in 2025: How I Became a Writer: Essays by Filipino and Filipino American Writers, and Step Into Our Kitchens: Theresian Recipes and Tales.

She has forthcoming translations in Greek, Japanese, Portuguese, Macedonian, Arabic, Serbian, Slovenian and Azerbaijan, in addition to earlier translations of her work in Turkish and Finnish.

She received an Outstanding Individual Award from Cebu, a California Arts Council Fellowship, a Brody Arts Fund, several travel grants from the US Embassy, National Book Award, Cirilo Bautista Prize, travel grant from the National Book Development Board, and others.

Cecilia taught at UCLA, USC, California State Summer School for the Arts, and the Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension. She served as Executive Board member and Officer of PEN, PAAWWW (Pacific Asian American Women Writers West), Arts & Letters at the Cal State University LA, PAWWA (Philippine American Woman Writers and Artists), among others.

She also runs a small press, PALH or Philippine American Literary House (palhbooks.com). Her official website is https://ceciliabrainard.com. 

THE VIRGIN’S LAST NIGHT

Copyright by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. All rights reserved.

 

FOUR MONTHS AFTER PETRA SANTIAGO DIED, and the night before her own death, Meding Santiago got out of bed, reached for her rosary by the side table and started reciting the Creed. It was almost midnight, and she was saying the rosary that Thursday for the second time. Since Petra died, she slept poorly, her mind fixed on the image of her younger sister on the hospital bed, waving her bony fingers in front of her face before she finally stopped breathing. Sometimes she would forget that Petra was gone, and she would pour another cup of hot chocolate or turn to say something to no one, and she would be surprised at the depth of her grief.

She was on her knees, with her eyes closed, when she heard a soft knock on the door. She rose and walked to the door. She opened it, expecting one of the servants, and was surprised at the figure of an old man. It took Meding a second before she caught her breath and said, “Mateo, what are you doing here? You’re dead.” 

“Here to see you, Meding. It’s been a long time,” replied Mateo, standing first on one foot, then shifting his weight to the other, a man embarrassed.

“Well,” Meding said, clutching her nightdress at the collar, uncertain about what to do, what to say, uncertain about her sanity at the moment.

“You’re not crazy,” Mateo went on. “I’m dead.  I know, it’s strange, but that’s how it is sometimes. I have to get back before sunrise.”

“Oh,” Meding said, accepting this explanation with some kind of relief. Ever since her sister’s death, life had taken on the quality of a dream, and Mateo’s presence was just another strange event. She squinted at the figure by the doorway. “You’ve gotten old, Mateo,” she said, “and paunchy too.”

“You’re just as beautiful.” Mateo hung his head the way he used to as a young man, many years ago.

Meding laughed and walked over to the armoire mirror to study her image. “Mateo, you and I know I’m no spring chicken.

A Simple Grace by Geronimo Tagatac - Love Stories Series #2

From Cecilia Brainard: I am proud to share GERONIMO TAGATAC'S short story, A SIMPLE GRACE. This is part of my Love Stories Series featured in my blog.  This is featured in my blog with permission from the author. 

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GERONIMO TAGATAC'S father was from Ilocos Norte.  His mother was a Russian Jew. Geronimo has been a Special Forces soldier, a legislative consultant, a dishwasher, cook, folksinger, computer system planner, a modern and jazz dancer and a roofer.  His short fiction has appeared in Writers Forum, The Northwest Review, Alternatives Magazine, Orion Magazine, The Clackamas Literary Review and The Chautauqua Literary Review.  He’s received fellowships from Oregon Literary Arts and Fishtrap. “Summer of the Aswang,” received the 2017 Timberline Award for short fiction.  Geronimo's short story, "Hammer Lounge" is part of Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults, collected and edited by Cecilia Brainard. His first book of short fiction, The Weight of the Sun, was a 2007 Oregon Literary Arts finalist. 

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A SIMPLE GRACE

Copyright by Geronimo Tagatac. All rights reserved

CATHERINE, C.K. HER FRIENDS CALLED HER, would later tell him that the way he moved when he made his way between the row of lecture hall seats and the way he sat himself down without the help of his arms is what drew her interest. The very simplicity of his gracefulness touched something in her.  

        C.K. saw him the following Friday evening, in the Interlude Bar. She’d gone there with Charles, a grad student who was ten years older than her. He was chummy with the younger faculty members who frequented the place. Marco was chatting with the woman bartender and, at one point he said something to her that made her laugh. C.K. was sure he knew that she was watching him by the way he sat, half turned toward her on his bar stool as though he could hear her through the clutter of conversation punctuated by the occasional raised voice or wave of laughter. She was almost sure that he would hear her if she spoke to him across the space between them.

            Marco felt her swift glances, returning them with his own in which he took in her thick straight brown hair cut square several inches below her shoulders. He guessed she was not much more than five-feet-two inches tall.  He noticed her light-colored eyes behind her wire-rimmed glasses, the black turtleneck sweater, and wide-legged pants of a fabric that softened the shape of her legs. He watched her leave with her companion but noticed she didn’t hold his hand or lean into him in that way lovers do, and that rubbed away some of his envy.