A Goodreader Gives Us a Thumbs Up!

We’re excited and grateful to see that Anvil has provided Filipino book bloggers with review copies of Angelica’s Daughters. A young reader recently posted his review over at Goodreads, and it was so fun read his description of our book as “well-written…unique…half chick lit, half historical fiction.” And he even reminded everyone to try out Angelica’s recipe for tsokolate! Thank you, Goodreads reviewer!

Just yesterday I was reading the new “Tsinoy” (Chinese-Filipino) issue of the wonderful Our Own Voice, and I noticed they’ve included Angelica’s Daughters on their December 2010 Bookshelf. Thank you, Our Own Voice! I’m intrigued by many of the books on the Bookshelf: Jon Pineda’s Sleep In Me and Peter Bachco’s Leaving Yesler, among many others, caught my eye.

Finally, I wanted to congratulate Angelica’s Daughters co-author Cecilia Brainard on her new book—also just published by Anvil—called Vigan & Other Stories. This is another book I’m very much looking forward to reading! You can order it from Anvil here, or if you have an e-reader, the Kindle edition is available via Amazon here.

Thanks for reading! Check back soon!

~Veronica

Writers Recommend…

…giving books, of course! Over at the PAWA blog, you’ll find holiday gift recommendations from a host of writers including—so far—Eileen Tabios, Karen Llagas, Barbara Jane Reyes, Oliver de la Paz, Vangie Buell, and yours ever so truly.

I’m re-posting my list here (with many thanks to Barbara Jane for the links and the pictures!):

What It Is (Drawn & Quarterly, 2008) and Picture This: The Near-Sighted Monkey Book (Drawn & Quarterly, 2010) by Lynda Barry. Writers and artists will be inspired by these two unorthodox “manuals” for the creative life. Written by hand and filled with Barry’s color-saturated collages, drawings, doodles, and whatnot, they’re pretty much impossible to put down.

Pinoy Capital: The Filipino Nation in Daly City, by Benito M. Vergara, Jr. (Temple University Press, 2009). Like thousands of Filipinos before me, and hundreds of thousands after me, I grew up in Daly City. This is a fascinating anthropological take on my hometown, written in a style that is somehow both academic and conversational. A must-have for the bookshelf of anyone with even a tangential interest in a landscape that holds special meaning for Filipinos.

A History of the Philippines from Indios Bravos to Filipinos, by Luis Francia (Overlook Press, 2010). A history of the Philippines written by a poet/journalist? Who could resist such a fine book? Pick up two copies: one for yourself, and one to offer as a gift to someone who has been very, very good this year.

 

Imago, by Joseph O. Legaspi (CavanKerry Press, 2007). I had the chance to hear Joseph read from the poems in Imago when he participated in the PAWA Reading Series earlier this year, and was instantly drawn to his work. He captures all the beauty and innocence of childhood, tempered by the inevitable intrusion(s) of death, violence, sex (the confusing parts, that is). So good.

Diwata, by Barbara Jane Reyes (BOA Editions, Ltd., 2010). Lush, lovely, inspired. These poems are filled with startling imagery, strong women, and story, story, story. (I wrote more about Diwata in an earlier post)

 

The Solemn Lantern Maker, by Merlinda Bobis (Delta, 2009). This novel begins just six days before Christmas with a mute boy trawling the streets selling his handmade paper lanterns. Add to this his best friend Elvis (who holds a terrible secret), an injured and missing American tourist, and a post-9/11 let’s-freak-everybody-out media frenzy, and what do you have? A really good story.

Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults, Cecilia Brainard, ed. (PALH Books, 2009). I would recommend this anthology even if I didn’t have a story in it. It’s one of those books I’d wished I’d had as a teenager and young adult, simply because it’s affirming to have our experiences transformed into a narrative on the page. You’ll find bits and pieces of yourself and yours in these stories, for sure.

I’d also like to recommend subscriptions to literary journals that seem to consistently support the work of Filipino writers. Bamboo Ridge Press, The Asian American Literary Review, and Manoa instantly come to mind.

 

Have any other books to recommend? I’d love to hear.

Check back soon! Thanks for reading!

~Veronica

Bits & Pieces

Image borrowed from the Walker Art Center

Well, hello there. I’m mortified to find that this blog became utterly lost in the lengthy shuffle that began with the build-up to Thanksgiving. My family and I traveled several hours by car, feasted non-stop for three days, and then dove headfirst into the onset of holiday shopping. But life has settled down for the time being, and I can finally mention a few bits and pieces relating to Angelica’s Daughters.

 

Bits & Pieces #1: Cecilia was pleased to hear recently from Professor Oscar V. Campomanes, who had many a kind word for our novel. *dramatic pause* Oh, I’ll stop being coy: Professor Campomanes, who teaches critical theory and literary/cultural studies at Ateneo de Manila University (and whose essays I’ve admired in the excellent anthologies Positively No Filipinos Allowed and Vestiges of War) said, “It is fabulous—I love it! Very avant-garde and a singular innovation in our context. I mentioned it as an example of the most exciting developments in my panel on “Writing the Diaspora” at the…Manila International Literary Festival…organized by the National Book Development Board.”

Bits & Pieces #2: Marie Romero of Arkipelago Books has Angelica’s Daughters on her splash page as the “Book Feature of the Month.” We appreciate her support, and we encourage you to fill at least some of your shopping bags with Filipino and Filipino-American titles this holiday! They make the best gifts EVER.

Bits & Pieces #3: Tony Robles was the videographer extraordinaire at our recent PAWA event, and Cecilia has posted a clip over at YouTube. Thanks Tony!

Bits & Pieces #4: Anvil, our publisher, shared the news that an online book club has requested copies of Angelica’s Daughters for review and discussion. How fun is that?! Whether they give us a thumbs up or a thumbs down or a thumb somewhere-in-between, I know the five of us will be happy knowing that the book was engaged with out there. Thanks mystery readers!

And thank you for reading! Check back soon!

~ Veronica

S-s-s-scandalous! Plus, Booksigning @ the NaFFAA Conference

At the PAWA launch, Marie Romero told us about a woman at the recent Manila International Book Fair who picked up a copy of Angelica’s Daughters, scanned the cover, read the words “a dugtungan novel,” and then dismissed the book (with a flare of her nostrils, no doubt!) as “sexual.” Silly, funny woman! Our book is kinda sexy, for sure, but not “sexual” (wow—this blog is going to get so many Google hits now…). The photograph on the cover was actually shot at the Vigeland Museum and Park in Oslo, Norway, by our own intrepid world-traveler, Cecilia Brainard. The artist is Gustave Vigeland, who designed all of the 700+ sculptures at this famous institution.

But what I meant to say when I started this post is that the tireless Linda Nietes of Philippine Expressions Bookshop is setting up a Filipiniana Book Exhibit during the NaFFAA Empowerment Conference to be held this weekend in Burlingame. You will find me there (along with others, but I’m not sure who. Linda, if you’re reading this, perhaps you can share the names?) during the Author Booksigning from 5:00 – 7:15. I am secretly hoping that a few potential book buyers will be as scandalized by the cover as the woman at the Manila International Book Fair, as it will provide me with the perfect opening for a little chitchat about the book.

Before I sign off, I want to wish Cecilia and Nadine buena suerte as they tap away at their keyboards for the remainder of NaNoWriMo. Nadine reports that there is also some sort of follow-up event?—Something like NaNoReWriMo? I think that’s hilarious…

Thanks for reading! Check back soon!

~ Veronica

Report from the PAWA Book Launch

We’re so grateful to PAWA and Arkipelago Books for launching Angelica’s Daughters with an excellent event held yesterday at the Bayanihan Community Center in San Francisco. It was memorable for many reasons, not the least of which were the twenty-five or so delightful, engaged, and interesting people in the audience. The evening started with refreshments, and Cecilia and I enjoyed mingling with folks including Penelope Flores, Joi Barrios, Tony Robles (who also served as videographer), the young and lovely Hidalgo sisters (3 of them!), and others.

Cecilia Brainard, Penelope Flores, Carmen Domingo-Kirk, Veronica Montes

PAWA President Edwin Lozada was, as always, a gracious host and charming emcee:

PAWA President Edwin Lozada and Cecilia Brainard

We were truly, truly honored to share the reading space with emerging writers Cyndi Vasallo and Yael Villafranca. Cyndi read her short story, “More American,”—a quietly beautiful and moving piece—which was recently published in TAYO Literary Magazine. If you aren’t able to read it in print, it will be available online next year. I’ll be sure to link to it then. Cyndi has an MFA from USF, and she’s revising a story collection which was “born” at VONA last summer. I can’t wait to read more of her work.

Cyndi Vasallo and Yael Villafranca

Ah, the vivacity of youth: Yael Villafranca (a VONA and Kundiman alum)  made me smile every time I looked at her. After announcing that she has the “heart of a marshmallow” and writes poetry because she’s a “frustrated filmmaker,” she convincingly backed up her argument by reading a suite of poems in which she spoke in the voice of characters inspired by Filipino soap operas. How can you not adore this person? She attended the event with Ed Mabasa, a playwright who is currently working on a radio play for Bindlestiff Studio:

Yael Villafranca and Ed Mabasa

Cecilia and I batted last (you’ll forgive the baseball analogy; we were, after all, in the home of the newly minted 2010 World Series Champion San Francisco Gi-gan-tes! Woot!). Cecilia began by talking about the genesis of our group, why we decided to tackle a novel together, and how we reacted to that first rejection (I blogged about it last month). She even printed out the rejection, which I was stunned to see was FIVE single-spaced pages! We can laugh about it now, of course, and the audience laughed right along with us.

We then did a little back and forth reading, with Cecilia presenting a letter from the historical line of the story and I reading from early on in the modern-day narrative. Then I shared a little bit about our process of working together, i.e. how we decided what order we would write in, how we dealt with feeling proprietary about our characters, how we settled disputes, edited, etc. I also mentioned that we all uploaded photos to help inspire the writing, and that many of these were vintage Filipiniana and were a large part of the reason our novel has a historic bent.

We closed with three more excerpts, and then took quite a few questions from the audience. People were curious about how we tackled the editing process after the initial rejection; if we incorporated any of the suggestions; the use of the epistolary form; how we researched the historical aspects, etc. etc. Finally, Cecilia brought some copies of Growing Up Filipino with her to raffle off, and that was done with much hilarity and fanfare.

Then it was time for more mingling and book signing. I was so pleased to meet a family of four who were on their way to pick up the patriarch’s visa for a trip to India, saw the sign through the Balikbayan Community Center Window, and came inside. They had two teenage daughters and said it was their first experience being exposed to Filipino/Fil-Am literature. Not only did they win a copy of Growing Up Filipino, they also purchased Angelica’s Daughters and chatted with me for quite a bit. I then sent them over to Arkipelago Books, where they spoke some more with owner Marie Romero and—no doubt—purchased more books. Yes!

I’m super happy to report that Arkipelago sold out of books, but Marie is expecting more soon. And I see she’s added an online purchase option to her site, which makes things especially easy.

Thanks for reading! Check back soon!

~ Veronica

Also Joining Us on Saturday…

…are two emerging writers:

Yael Villafranca is a Kundiman fellow, VONA fellow, and a student at USF
Cyndi Vasallo is a VONA fellow and a USF alum

We’re very excited! Do come out and support these young guns, as well as us old folks. Even as I type, Cecilia is on her way north. She’ll be visiting a high school classroom at Galileo Academy of Science & Technology to discuss her now classic novel, When The Rainbow Goddess Wept. Kind of cool, don’t you think, that the book is part of the high school curriculum, and a bunch of teenagers are prepared to engage with her? I love that.

Here’s the where, what, and time, once again:

When: Saturday, November 6, 2010, 5:30 – 7:00
Where: Bayanihan Community Center, 1010 Mission St., San Francisco
What:: Cecilia Brainard, Veronica Montes, Yael Villafranca, Cyndi Vasallo, book signing, and light refreshments

Thanks for reading! Check back soon!

~ Veronica

Angelica’s Daughters – Bay Area Launch

Multiple thank yous to the excellent and ever-supportive PAWA for hosting the Bay Area book launch of Angelica’s Daughters.

Cecilia is venturing north to be here, which is super exciting—it’s been several years since I’ve seen her in person! I’m personally hoping to meet more of the many Bay Area contributors to Cecilia’s Growing Up Filipino I and II and Contemporary Fiction by Filipino Americans anthologies. Do come out, all you locals! We’d love to say hello.

When: Saturday, November 6, 2010, 5:30 – 7:00
Where: Bayanihan Community Center, 1010 Mission St., San Francisco
What: Reading (Cecilia and Veronica), book signing, and light refreshments

And bonus: Arkipelago Books is also located in the Bayanihan Community Center, so you can shop for those hard-to-find Filipino and Fil-Am titles before or after (um, not during, ‘kay?) the event! Hope to see you there.

Thanks for reading! Check back soon!

~ Veronica