Register Hot Off the Press Literary Reading Oct. 9, 2021

 

12/21 Statement from Cecilia Manguerra Brainard regarding PAWA and Hot Off the Press Literary Readings: Please be informed that I will no longer be working on future Hot Off the Press Literary Readings (HOTP) and other programs with the San Francisco group PAWA (also known as PAWA, Inc.).  This group is also known as Philippine American Writers and Artists, Filipino American International Book Festival, Filbookfestival.org. You can contact me directly for more information.

 ~~~

 

REGISTER EARLY: 

INVITATION to a Virtual Literary Reading by Nine Filipino & FilAm Authors, Saturday, October 9, 2021, 5 p.m. (California Time), San Francisco Public Library/ Events (sfpl.org).

READERS: Gina Apostol, Jhoanna Lynn Cruz, George Gonzaga Deoso, Caroline Sy Hau, Mae Respicio, Randy Ribay, Brian Ascalon Roley, Ricco Siasoco, and Lara Stapleton.

 

REGISTER via Zoom: https://bit.ly/FilAmHist10-9-21

OR

REGISTER:  https://sfpl.org/events/2021/10/09/author-hot-press-filipino-and-filam-literary-reading.

 

You can also view the event here:

YouTube Event - https://youtu.be/dRMiUVvhXbA

 

 tags: poetry reading, literary reading, performance reading, philippine literature, philippine authors, philippine books, Filipino books, Filipino writers, Pinoylit, Goodreads

Philippine National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera Passes Away

 

l-r: Cecilia Brainard, Felice Sta. Maria, Isagani Cruz, Michael Gonzalez, Bienvenido Lumbera, Marily Orosa, Karina Bolasco

Bienvenido Lumbera (1932-2021), Philippine National Artist for Literature passed away yesterday. May he rest in peace.

 

This is from the UST Publishing House:

"Fondly known as Sir Bien to his students and colleagues, he has become one of the foundational figures in Philippine literature not only for his valuable contribution on Tagalog poetry, but also for his sharp criticism with historical grounding. As a Martial Law detainee, his firsthand experience of state violence inspired much of his social commentaries, which are now considered cornerstone works in Philippine scholarly studies. Lumbera was proclaimed National Artist for Literature in 2006." 

Tags: #philippineliterature #Filipinoauthors #Philippinewriters #Philippinenationalartist 

Book Review of CECILIA BRAINARD'S NOVEL, THE NEWSPAPER WIDOW by Angeles de Leon

 

BOOK REVIEW of The Newspaper Widow a Novel by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

PALH 2021 & University of Santo Tomas Publishing House 2017

By ANGELES DE LEON

Starting out as a riveting murder mystery, it took me along as it branched, twisted & turned along the way, it deepened into the story of a friendship between 2 women, of differing personalities from different cultures (one a Frenchwoman, the other a Chinese-Spanish-Native hybrid) as they mourned their lost loves, and struggled to survive in the clash of the early 1900’s American Colonial Period.

The customs, costumes, society, and details of those times gone by, ring true; they evoke tales of my own grandma. The characters are recognizable- - reminiscent of some folks I have met in the Visayan society of my day. Ubec, (Cebu named backwards) a southern Philippine island, is painted with the atmosphere redolent of the tropical islands where I grew up.

This slim book is enjoyable & engrossing- - like time-traveling to a bygone time & place, sharing the life of interesting characters, transporting us away from our current stressful times.

 

I enjoyed this just as much as 2 novels i’ve read, recently: Where Crawdads Sing, a NYTimes Bestseller with nearly 200,000 reviews in Amazon Books, & The Firekeeper’s Daughter, a Time Best YA Book of All Time.

For copies of the book:

In the US check out Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others; in the Philippines check out Lazada and Shopee

tags: Philippine novels, Filipino novels, Filipino books, Filipino mystery, Filipino murder mystery, Philippine literature books,  Filipino detective novels 

Inquirer Article re NINE FILIPINOS & FILAM AUTHORS READ OCT 9

 

12/21 Statement from Cecilia Manguerra Brainard regarding PAWA and Hot Off the Press Literary Readings: Please be informed that I will no longer be working on future Hot Off the Press Literary Readings (HOTP) and other programs with the San Francisco group PAWA (also known as PAWA, Inc.).  This group is also known as Philippine American Writers and Artists, Filipino American International Book Festival, Filbookfestival.org. You can contact me directly for more information.

 ~~~

 

Article re:

NINE FILIPINO AND FILAM AUTHORS TO READ FROM THEIR NEW BOOKS, Oct. 9, 5 p.m. (California time).

Featuring: Gina Apostol; Jhoanna Lynn Cruz; George Gonzaga Deoso; Caroline Sy Hau; Mae Respicio; Randy Ribay; Brian Ascalon Roley; Ricco Siasoco; Lara Stapleton.

Register via Zoom: https://bit.ly/FilAmHist10-9-21

OR

San Francisco Public Library, Events: https://sfpl.org/events/2021/10/09/author-hot-press-filipino-and-filam-literary-reading. 

https://usa.inquirer.net/81760/nine-filipino-and-fil-am-authors-to-read-from-their-new-books-oct-9

Tags: #Filipinoauthors #Filipinobooks  Philippineliterature #HOTP #literaryreading #poetryreading 

Register for HOTP Literary Reading by 9 Filipino & FilAm Authors

 12/21 Statement from Cecilia Manguerra Brainard regarding PAWA and Hot Off the Press Literary Readings: Please be informed that I will no longer be working on future Hot Off the Press Literary Readings (HOTP) and other programs with the San Francisco group PAWA (also known as PAWA, Inc.).  This group is also known as Philippine American Writers and Artists, Filipino American International Book Festival, Filbookfestival.org. You can contact me directly for more information.

 

INVITATION to a Virtual Literary Reading by Nine Filipino & FilAm Authors, Saturday, October 9, 2021, 5-6:30 p.m. (California Time), San Francisco Public Library/ Events (sfpl.org).

 

READERS: Gina Apostol, Jhoanna Lynn Cruz, George Gonzaga Deoso, Caroline Sy Hau, Mae Respicio, Randy Ribay, Brian Ascalon Roley, Ricco Siasoco, and Lara Stapleton.

 

REGISTER:  https://sfpl.org/events/2021/10/09/author-hot-press-filipino-and-filam-literary-reading.

OR

REGISTER via Zoom: https://bit.ly/FilAmHist10-9-21

 

You can also view the event here:

YouTube Event - https://youtu.be/dRMiUVvhXbA

Read also:

Press Release of  2021 HOTP Literary Reading  - https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2021/08/press-release-2021-hot-off-press.html

Tags: #filipinoauthors #filipinobooks #filamauthors #HOTP #Philippineliterature #poetryreading 

 

Memories & Sketches #2 by Cecilia Brainard - Talisay

 

I continue my blogging about my memories with sketches ... and also old photos. Copyright 2021 by Cecilia Brainard

TALISAY

Cecilia Brainard

My father had been an engineering professor at the University of the Philippines in Manila. He and my mother lived in a big house on Georgia Street, in the Malate District. There they had their first two children -- my oldest sister and brother. When World War II broke out, my father entrusted the Manila house to his nephew Nanding. He brought his family by boat to Mindanao, and there he worked for the guerrilla movement — I have fictionalized some of their war stories into my first novel, When the Rainbow Goddess Wept (aka Song of Yvonne).

There they stayed for four years. My other sister was born “behind some bushes” while a Japanese patrol walked by. My mother lost a baby boy there, a miscarriage. My father would disappear for days without my mother knowing where he went, only to discover later on that he had traveled with the Americans to Australia or some other place.

Remembering Jaime Picornell by Cecilia Brainard

 

 

Cecilia Brainard Remembers Jaime Picornell who passed away last August 16, 2021

Published in Positively Filipino

 https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-jolly-spaniard-of-cebu

The Jolly Spaniard of Cebu

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cebu in the 1950s and 1960s had small-town ways. The city was not as sprawling or as heavily populated as it is now. Families knew one another. Everyone knew the Picornell family. They were a holdover from the Spanish era, pure Spanish in blood, though they had assimilated Cebuano ways.

Jaime became close to our family in the mid-1960s. He became a good friend of my brother and his wife. When my sister Ana and cousin Chickie returned from their post-graduate studies in Spain, Jaime became close to them. He also became a friend of my mother. So, it happened that when I was in Cebu for my school holidays (I attended college in Manila), I got to know Jaime better.

He used to come around for merienda or dinner, and while we sat around the table, my mother would say, “Jaime-Jaime, tell us about …” And Jaime would start telling stories about the personalities of Cebu, sending us into hysterical laughter at his animated lively stories. Jaime was a great storyteller; he knew how to zero on in people’s quirks and turn them into funny anecdotes. We laughed but knew we had our own peculiarities and that we were all part of the fabric of Cebu. - please continue reading in Positively Filipino

 

 

 

Tags: Cebu Society, Cebu Philippines, Cebu culture, Cebu history, Spanish Filipinos

Memories & Skeches #1 by Cecilia Brainard - Santo Nino de Cebu

 I will be blogging my memories of Cebu with accompanying sketch. This first personal essay is about the Santo Nino de Cebu. 

These sketches are part of the book, Magical Years Memories & Sketches by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, available as a limited edition of 100 copies from palh@aol.com. 

~~~ 

SANTO NINO DE CEBU

Copyrignt 2021 by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard 

 

I was born and raised in the island of Cebu where my mother’s people came from. My father and his family came from another part of the Philippines—the North, Laguna specifically, where people spoke another dialect and ate meat and vegetable dishes with strong flavors. Laguna used to fascinate me for the simple fact that my father was born and raised there. Otherwise, it looked like any other provincial town, with a city hall, old church, and Spanish colonial stone and wood houses. I never lived there and only heard secondhand stories about my father’s family, about how for instance they had owned huge tracks of land which my grandfather gambled away. Laguna was a kind of mythic place which I didn’t really know.

Book Review Library Journal for The Newspaper Widow by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

 

Book Review Library Journal August 2021

Mystery

The Newspaper Widow by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

PALH, Sept. 2021

252 p. ISBN 9781953716149 pap $17.95 

When her husband dies in 1909, Ines Maceda inherits his newspaper, which is running out of audience and funds; she soon finds that she’s good at both the money side and the reporting side. The paper gets a scoop about the discovery of the body of a priest who had been missing several months, but any pleasure in Ines’s coup is dampened when her son Andres is imprisoned on suspicion of murdering the priest, whose past turns out to be shadier than imagined. What follows is part detective story and part historical fiction, set in the Philippines seven years after the conclusion of the Philippine-American War (1899-1902) that cemented U.S. occupation of the islands. The mystery elements are competently plotted, and the characters appealing, and there’s a charming long-distance romance, with a hint of another yet to come. The book’s signal virtue, though, is its bighearted look at Filipino culture and society in 1909. With 23 books to her name, Brainard (Magdalena) is hardly a novice, but most of her works have appeared out of small presses (including her own Philippine American Literary House), so she might be a new addition to library collections.

VERDICT An old-fashioned novel isn’t a bad thing when it’s as well done as this one about people growing, loving, and rectifying past mistakes.

Review by David Keymer, Cleveland, July 16, 2021

#bookreview #murdermystery #Philippineliterature #Filipinonovel #Philippinenovel 

Short Video re The Newspaper Widow, novel by Cecilia Brainard

 

Book Review Library Journal August 2021

Mystery

The Newspaper Widow by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Philippine American Literary House, Sept. 2021

252 p. ISBN 9781953716149 pap $17.95 M

When her husband dies in 1909, Ines Maceda inherits his newspaper, which is running out of audience and funds; she soon finds that she’s good at both the money side and the reporting side. The paper gets a scoop about the discovery of the body of a priest who had been missing several months, but any pleasure in Ines’s coup is dampened when her son Andres is imprisoned on suspicion of murdering the priest, whose past turns out to be shadier than imagined. What follows is part detective story and part historical fiction, set in the Philippines seven years after the conclusion of the Philippine-American War (1899-1902) that cemented U.S. occupation of the islands. The mystery elements are competently plotted, and the characters appealing, and there’s a charming long-distance romance, with a hint of another yet to come. The book’s signal virtue, though, is its bighearted look at Filipino culture and society in 1909. With 23 books to her name, Brainard (Magdalena) is hardly a novice, but most of her works have appeared out of small presses (including her own Philippine American Literary House), so she might be a new addition to library collections.

VERDICT An old-fashioned novel isn’t a bad thing when it’s as well done as this one about people growing, loving, and rectifying past mistakes.

Review by David Keymer, Cleveland, July 16, 2021

Tags: Philippine novel, Philippine mystery, Philippine detective, Filipino novel, Filipino mystery, Filipino detective, Filipino crime novel

Brian Ascalon Roley in HOT OFF THE PRESS LITERARY READING Oct. 9, 2021 #HOTP

 

 

 12/21 Statement from Cecilia Manguerra Brainard regarding PAWA and Hot Off the Press Literary Readings: Please be informed that I will no longer be working on future Hot Off the Press Literary Readings (HOTP) and other programs with the San Francisco group PAWA (also known as PAWA, Inc.).  This group is also known as Philippine American Writers and Artists, Filipino American International Book Festival, Filbookfestival.org. You can contact me directly for more information.

~~~ 

2021 HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Reading, a program of the Filipino American International Book Festival, and sponsored by the San Francisco Public Library & PAWA, will go virtual this year, on Saturday, October 9, 2021 Californa Time, from 5-6:30 p.m. 

Register at the San Francisco Public Library, Events page: https://sfpl.org/events/#!/filters?date-end-after=10/09/2021

Getting to know Brian Ascalon Roley. In 2020 Brian became a National Endowment of the Arts Literature Fellow.

He has received additional fellowships and awards from the the University of Cambridge, Cornell University, the Ohio Arts Council, the Djerassi Foundation, Ragdale, and the VCCA, among others. His books include American Son: a novel , which was a Los Angeles Times Best Book, New York Times Notable Book, Kiriyama Pacific Rim Prize Finalist, and winner of the Association for Asian American Studies Prose Book Award, among other honors and has been taught widely. His collection, The Last Mistress of Jose Rizal (Northwestern University Press) appeared in April 2016. He is currently Professor of English at Miami University of Ohio.

He will read from his award-winning chapbook, Ambuscade.

His website is brianroley.com. Look for his books in Eastwind Books of Berkeley, among other US booksellers.

PRESS RELEASE: https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2021/08/press-release-2021-hot-off-press.html

Eventbrite link:  https://tinyurl.com/24ucb88u

 #Philippineliterature #filipinoamericanliterature #pinoylit #philippinebooks #goodreads #philippineauthors #ustph #literaryreading #poetryreading #bookfestival #FilAmbookfest #HOTP

Randy Ribay in HOT OFF THE PRESS LITERARY READING Oct. 9, 2021

 

12/21 Statement from Cecilia Manguerra Brainard regarding PAWA and Hot Off the Press Literary Readings: Please be informed that I will no longer be working on future Hot Off the Press Literary Readings (HOTP) and other programs with the San Francisco group PAWA (also known as PAWA, Inc.).  This group is also known as Philippine American Writers and Artists, Filipino American International Book Festival, Filbookfestival.org. You can contact me directly for more information.

 ~~~

 

2021 HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Reading, a program of the Filipino American International Book Festival, and sponsored by the San Francisco Public Library & PAWA, will go virtual this year, on Saturday, October 9, 2021 Pacific Time, from 5-6:30 p.m. 

Register at the San Francisco Public Library, Events page: https://sfpl.org/events/#!/filters?date-end-after=10/09/2021

Get to know RANDY RIBAY – Randy Ribay is the author of An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes, After the Shot Drops, and, most recently, Patron Saints of Nothing—which received five starred reviews, was selected as a Freeman Book Award winner, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, LA Times Book Prize, Walden Book Award, Edgar Award, International Thriller Writers Award, and the UK’s CILIP Carnegie Medal. Randy was born in the Philippines and raised in the United States. He earned his BA in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his Ed.M. in Language and Literacy from Harvard Graduate School of Education. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his family and teaches high school English full-time. Visit him at randyribay.com or on Twitter and Instagram @randyribay.

Look for his book in Mt Cloud Bookshop, Solidaridad Bookshop, and Eastwind Books of Berkeley.

PRESS RELEASE: https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2021/08/press-release-2021-hot-off-press.html

Eventbrite link:  https://tinyurl.com/24ucb88u

 #Philippineliterature #filipinoamericanliterature #pinoylit #philippinebooks #goodreads #philippineauthors #ustph #literaryreading #poetryreading #bookfestival #FilAmbookfest #HOTP

 

Mae Respicio in Hot Off the Press Literary Reading #HOTP

12/21 Statement from Cecilia Manguerra Brainard regarding PAWA and Hot Off the Press Literary Readings: Please be informed that I will no longer be working on future Hot Off the Press Literary Readings (HOTP) and other programs with the San Francisco group PAWA (also known as PAWA, Inc.).  This group is also known as Philippine American Writers and Artists, Filipino American International Book Festival, Filbookfestival.org. You can contact me directly for more information.

 ~~~

 

2021 HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Reading, a program of the Filipino American International Book Festival, and sponsored by the San Francisco Public Library & PAWA, will go virtual this year, on Saturday, October 9, 2021 Pacific Time, from 5-6:30 p.m. 

Register at the San Francisco Public Library, Events page: https://sfpl.org/events/#!/filters?date-end-after=10/09/2021

Get to know MAE RESPICIO - Mae writes middle grade novels full of hope and heart. She’s the author of THE HOUSE THAT LOU BUILT, which won an Asian/Pacific American Libraries Association Honor award, was an NPR Best Book, and was named to many state reading and “best of” lists. Her most recent books are ANY DAY WITH YOU and HOW TO WIN A SLIME WAR (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House). Mae lives with her family in the suburban wild of Northern California. Learn more at maerespicio.com.

Look for her book in Eastwind Books of Berkeley, among other US bookstores.

PRESS RELEASE: https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2021/08/press-release-2021-hot-off-press.html

Eventbrite link:  https://tinyurl.com/24ucb88u

 #Philippineliterature #filipinoamericanliterature #pinoylit #philippinebooks #goodreads #philippineauthors #ustph #literaryreading #poetryreading #bookfestival #FilAmbookfest #HOTP

Caroline S. Hau in HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Reading, Oct. 9, 2021

12/21 Statement from Cecilia Manguerra Brainard regarding PAWA and Hot Off the Press Literary Readings: Please be informed that I will no longer be working on future Hot Off the Press Literary Readings (HOTP) and other programs with the San Francisco group PAWA (also known as PAWA, Inc.).  This group is also known as Philippine American Writers and Artists, Filipino American International Book Festival, Filbookfestival.org. You can contact me directly for more information.

 ~~~~

 

2021 HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Reading, a program of the Filipino American International Book Festival, and sponsored by the San Francisco Public Library & PAWA, will go virtual this year, on Saturday, October 9, 2021 Pacific Time, from 5-6:30 p.m. 

Register at the San Francisco Public Library, Events page: https://sfpl.org/events/#!/filters?date-end-after=10/09/2021

Get to know, CAROLINE S. HAU – Professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Caroline obtained her BA degree from the University of the Philippines and her MA and PhD from Cornell University. She received the Grant Goodman Prize in Historical Studies from the Philippine Studies Group of the Association of Asian Studies. She will read from her debut novel, TIEMPO MUERTO.

 Look for her book in Mt Cloud Bookshop, Solidaridad Bookshop, and Eastwind Books of Berkeley.

PRESS RELEASE: https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2021/08/press-release-2021-hot-off-press.html

Eventbrite link:  https://tinyurl.com/24ucb88u

 #Philippineliterature #filipinoamericanliterature #pinoylit #philippinebooks #goodreads #philippineauthors #ustph #literaryreading #poetryreading #bookfestival #FilAmbookfest #HOTP

RIP Jaime Picornell of Cebu Philippines

 

 l-r: Chinggay Utzurrum, Jaime Picornell, Cecilia Brainard

I am sharing pictures that include my friend Jaime Picornell who unfortunately died of Cardiac arrest (Covid related) on Monday August 16, 2021, 2 p.m., Cebu Philippine time. His family and friends and I are very, very sad over this loss.

I knew Jaime all my life, because Cebu in the 1950s-1960s was small and families knew one another. I spent more time with him during my teenage years. He was close to my brother and his wife (Jess and Teresita Manguerra), and was also very close to my sister Ana Manguerra and cousin Chickie Feraren. He was also Mama's dear friend. He used to visit us for merienda or dinner and regale us (in the most animated way) with stories about the personalities of Cebu. He was a great storyteller, writer, teacher, businessman, and he also served as the Consul of the Spanish Consulate in Cebu.

He was a steadfast friend, whom we could call on at any time to chat or go out with, or to cry on his shoulder.

When he was young, he used to send us into hysterics laughing at this stories. He mellowed out as he got older but he always had stories. He loved stories, especially about Cebu. He wrote about Cebu and the people of Cebu in his columns. He was in fact a kind of historian for Cebu, and if you needed any information about Cebuano history or personality, he could give it to you.

I have many stories about Jaime, and I'll have to write something longer later on. All I want to say now is that I am heartbroken as his family and friends are. We will miss him. Rest in Christ's peace, Jaime.

PS: The pictures date from 2019 to as early as 1969.

 Seated l-r: Terry Manguerra, Cecilia Brainard, Jaime Picornell; 

Standing l-r; Louie Nacorda, Gavin Bagares, Guest, Jobers Bersales

clockwise from l: Nina Briones Blanco, Cecilia Brainard, Chinggay Utzurrum, Terry Manguerra, Tina Escano Unchuan, Chona Bernad, Cecilia Picornell, Jaime Picornell, Marilou Chiongbian

seated l-r: Chinggay Utzurrum, Terry Manguerra, Inday Blanco;

standing l-r: Cecilia Brainard, Jaime Picornell, Chona Bernad

l-r: Cecilia Brainard, Jaime Picornell, Karina Bolasco

l-r: Jaime Picornell, Cecilia Brainard, Helen Misa, Ed Misa

1969 photo, l-r: Bing Velasco- Jacala, Cecilia Brainard, Ana Manguerra, Manny Gonzalez, Noe Elano; standing: Guests, Standing far right is Jaime Picornell

Read also: The Jolly Spaniard in Cebu - Cecilia Brainard's article remembering Jaime Picornell

Tags: Cebu. Cebuano, Philippines, society, Cebuano, Cebu history, Cebu personalities, Cebu society

George Gonzaga Deoso in HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Reading, October 9

 

2021 HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Reading, a program of the Filipino American International Book Festival, and sponsored by the San Francisco Public Library & PAWA, will go virtual this year, on Saturday, October 9, 2021 Pacific Time, from 5-6:30 p.m. 

Register at the San Francisco Public Library, Events page: https://sfpl.org/events/#!/filters?date-end-after=10/09/2021

Get to know, GEORGE GONZAGA DEOSO - A fellow for poetry at the University of Santo Tomas, Iyas, and Silliman national writers' workshop, George will read from The Horseman's Revolt and Other Horrors, a collection of dark short fiction (UST Publishing House). Look for his book in Lazada, Shopee, Mt Cloud Bookshop, Solidaridad Bookshop, and Eastwind Books of Berkeley.

  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

PRESS RELEASE: https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2021/08/press-release-2021-hot-off-press.html

Eventbrite link:  https://tinyurl.com/24ucb88u

 #Philippineliterature #filipinoamericanliterature #pinoylit #philippinebooks #goodreads #philippineauthors #ustph #literaryreading #poetryreading #bookfestival #FilAmbookfest