Saturday, September 30, 2017

Student Films Based on Stories by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard



Many of my books and stories are used in classrooms.  Some favorites are "Woman with Horns" and "Flip Gothic", used in the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, the University of San Carlos in Cebu, and the Cebu Normal University. I believe other schools use my stories in their curriculum, but these are the universities whose students have posted YouTube film clips.  I invite you to watch them. The students have so much energy and creativity, it's a joy to watch. 





Woman with Horns: 









Flip Gothic











When the Rainbow Goddess Wept  







Tags: Films, movies, Student films, YouTube, Philippines, Cebu, Ubec #studentfilms

Read also

"Loving Vincent" Movie Review and Reflections by Cecilia Brainard


"Loving Vincent" Movie Review and Reflections
by Cecilia M. Brainard

There's a new movie out, Loving Vincent, by Breakthru Films and Trademark Films. It's reportedly the world's first fully painted feature film, with over 62,000 oil paintings used as frames for this animated movie. Watching the movie was a fascinating experience: I felt as if I entered the world of Vincent Van Gogh! (Be sure and watch the Trailer here.)



Thursday, September 28, 2017

Schedule and #Authors Featured in HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings, Oct 7-8, 2017, #FilAm Book Fest



Here are the Authors Featured in HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings. Join us on Oct. 7 and 8 -- see schedule below. Click on the images to make them large.

This year, there will be three HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings at the Filipino American International Book Festival, which will be held at the Koret Auditorium of the San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, Civic Center, San Francisco, CA 94102. The schedule follows:




The First HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Reading, moderated by Cecilia Brainard
 Saturday, October 7, 2017, from 1:30-2:50 p.m.
Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library:

Veronica Montes - Benedicta Takes Wing and Other Stories (Philippine American Literary House/PALH 2018)

Marie Deaconu-Baylon - North for Sun (2017)

Linda Ty-Casper - (Presenter is Kristina Casper-Denman) A River, One-Woman Deep: Stories(Philippine American Literary House/PALH 2017)

Brian Ascalon Roley - The Last Mistress of Jose Rizal (Curbstone Books 2016)

Eliza Victoria - Dwellers (Visprint 2014)

Renee Macalino Rutledge - The Hour of Daydreams (Forest Avenue Press 2017)

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard - The Newspaper Widow (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House 2017)

Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz - Even the Rainbow Has a Body: Distinct Artistic Legacies (Eastwind Books of Berkeley 2016)

M. Evelina Galang - Lolas' House: Filipino Women Living With War (Northwestern University Press 2017)

Myles Garcia - Of Adobo, Applie Pie, and Schnitzel with Noodles (2017)




The Second HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Reading, moderated by Cecilia Brainard
 Saturday, October 7, 2017, from 4:20-5:35 p.m.
Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library:

Barbara Jane Reyes - Invocation to Daughters (City Lights Books 2017)

Joseph O. Legaspi - Threshold (CavanKerry Press 2017)

Janice Sapigao - Like a Solid to a Shadow (Timeless, Infinite Light 2017)

Angela Peñaredondo - All Things Lose Thousands of Times (2016)

Eileen Tabios - Manhattan: An Archaelogy (Paloma Press 2017)

Robert Francis Flor - Alaskero Memories (Carayan Press 2016)

Aileen Cassinetto - The Art of Salamat (Locofo Chaps 2017)

Merlinda Bobis - Accidents of Composition (Spinifex 2017)

Wesley St. Jo, & Reme Grefalda - Blue (Paloma Press 2017)

Gemino Abad & Krip Yuson, Eds- (Presenter is Gemino Abad) -
BLOODLUST: Philippine Protest Poetry (From Marcos to Duterte) (Reyes Publishing 2017)




The Third HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Reading, moderated by Veronica Montes
 Sunday, October 8, 2017, from 1:45-3:05 p.m., 
Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library:

Tony Robles - Fingerprints of a Hunger Strike (Ithuriel's Spear Press 2017)

Rachelle Cruz - God's Will for Monsters (Inlandia 2017)

Amanda Ngoho Reavey - Marilyn (The Operating System 2015)

Randy Ribay - After the Shot Drops (HMH Books for Young Readers 2018)

Giovanni Ortega - Ang Gitano (2017)

Noelle Q. de Jesus - Blood Collected Stories (Ethos Books 2015)

Sansu Ramsey - Elizabeth Ramsey, Queen of Philippine Rock N' Roll (2017)

Merlinda Bobis - Locust Girl: A Lovesong (Spinifex Press 2015)

Constance Valencia Santos & Victoria Santos - (Presenter is Victoria Santos) - Memoirs of Manang: A Story of a Filipina American Pioneer (Eastwind Books of Berkeley 2015)

Mila De Guzman - Women Against Marcos: Stories of Filipino and Filipino American Women Who Fought a Dictator (Carayan Press 2016)

Raissa Robles - Marcos Martial Law: Never Again (Filipinos for a Better Philippines, Inc. 2016)

~~
Tags: #FilAm #FilAmBookFest #literature #poetry authors, writers, Philippine American, fiction, books, Asian American, literary readings, spoken word, poetry reading


Mini-Reunion of Maryknoll Class 1968 in Toronto, Canada




My college class is having a mini-reunion in Toronto, Canada. I put together this collage of our graduation pictures, and I'm sharing random group pictures that include these women. (Click on the pictures to make them large.)



 l-r: Becky Marfil, Tina Borja Heiter, Maria Navarro Ciocon, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard,  Boots Besa Browne, Marissa Munda Tay

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Finding God Through Mary, Personal Essay by Cecilia Brainard #religion #Catholic #Marian #Christianity #spirituality




I'm sharing my personal essay which was published in the book, Finding God: True Stories of  Spiritual Encounters (Anvil 2009), edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard & Marily Orosa.  The book won the prestigious Gintong Aklat Award for 2010. 

The book is available from Anvil.com -  http://www.anvilpublishing.com/shop/fiction-literature/finding-god/


Finding God through Mary
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

I am not sure when exactly I strayed from God because I had always turned to Him even when I was a child. I remember how, after my father’s death I tried to understand that I’d never see my father again, that he was now in heaven. My concept of heaven then was fluffy clouds and a bearded old man as God, but I had a difficult time seeing my father in that setting. Even though I didn’t know where he went, I believed in the afterlife and hatched the idea of writing to him to update him of my life.
His death left my life in chaos: my mother, frantic about how to take care of her four children; my siblings taking off to other countries to study. I turned to the nuns in my school and to the Catholicism they taught me. The nuns’ rules and Church’s rules helped give my life a framework. I did well in school; I went to Mass and prayed. The prayers were childish: give me this, give me that, a constant focus on I, me, and myself, not realizing I was a pinprick in the universe.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

#Authors Mila De Guzman & Cecilia Brainard in HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings Oct. 7 & 8, 2017


Here are 2 more authors who'll be participating in the HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings in San Francisco on October 7 and 8, 2017.  These readings are part of the Filipino American International Book Festival. They will be held at the San Francisco Main Library at 100 Larkin Street, Civic Center, San Francisco, CA 94102.


To view the complete schedule of the three HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings, click here: http://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2017/09/schedule-hot-off-press-literary.html.



Mila De Guzman will be reading from:                                                               
            Women Against Marcos: Stories of Filipino and Filipino American Women Who Fought a    Dictator. Carayan Press, 2016






Mila De Guzman is a freelance writer, correspondent for Inquirer.net, and author of Women Against Marcos: Stories of Filipino and Filipino American Women Who Fought a Dictator. She was a member of the Coalition Against the Marcos Dictatorship and Union of Democratic Filipinos that fought against the Marcos dictatorship and for the democratic rights of Filipino-Americans. Mila worked for 20 years at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.  She received her M.A. and M.F.A. in Writing from the University of San Francisco and has been awarded writing residencies at Hedgebrook on Whidbey Island, Washington and Mesa Refuge in Marin County. Mila is a member of Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc.











Cecilia Manguerra Brainard will be reading from her novel The Newspaper Widow (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House 2017)
















Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is the author and editor of 20 books, including the novels When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, Magdalena, and The Newspaper Widow. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.  She has received awards including a California Arts Council Fellowship, a Brody Arts Fund Award, an Outstanding Individual Award from Cebu, Philippines, and several USIS grants. Cecilia also heads Philippine American Literary House (PALH), a literary press that publishes high quality fiction and creative non-fiction by Filipino Americans. Her novel, The Newspaper Widow, was shortlisted in the Cirilo Bautista Prize for the novel in 2015. 







~~
Tags: #FilAm #FilAmBookFest #literature #poetry authors, writers, Philippine American, fiction, books, Asian American, literary readings, spoken word, poetry reading



Tuesday, September 19, 2017

#Authors Merlinda Bobis and Valencia & Victoria Santos in HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings Oct 7 & 8, 2017 #FilAm Book Fest

FEATURED AUTHORS:

Here are two more authors who'll be participating in the HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings in San Francisco on October 7 and 8, 2017.  These readings are part of the Filipino American International Book Festival. They will be held at the San Francisco Main Library at 100 Larkin Street, Civic Center, San Francisco, CA 94102.

I'll be featuring more participants of the HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings, so stay tuned!


To view the complete schedule of the three HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings, click here: http://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2017/09/schedule-hot-off-press-literary.html.


Merlinda Bobis will read from:
            Accidents of Composition (Spinifex 2017)
            Locust Girl: A Lovesong (Spinifex 2015)








Australia-based writer Merlinda Bobis writes in three languages across multiple genres. Her works have received literary recognition in Australia, Philippines, USA, and Italy. She has performed her dramatic works at various international venues. About her creative process, she writes: ‘Writing visits like grace. In an inspired moment we almost believe that anguish can be made bearable and injustice can be overturned, because they can be named. And if we’re lucky, joy can even be multiplied, so we may have reserves in the cupboard for the lean times.’









Constance Valencia Santos & Victoria Santos Presenter: Victoria Santos will read from:               
            Memoirs of Manang: The Story of a Filipina American Pioneer (Eastwind Books of Berkeley 2015)









Victoria Santos worked in social services and community mental health before her cultural diversity training and consulting career. She co-founded Filipinos for Affirmative Action (now Filipino Advocates for Justice), and Asian Community Mental Health Services in Oakland, and was interim director for SF Asian Women’s Shelter.  She is past president of East Bay FANHS and was elected to the FANHS National Board of Trustees in 2016.  Filipino Women’s Network named her one of 100 Most Influential Women in the U.S. in 2012. She contributed to Seven Card Stud with Seven Manangs Wild and Beyond Lumpia, Pansit and Seven Manangs Wild.






Tags: #FilAm #FilAmBookFest #literature #poetry authors, writers, Philippine American, fiction, books, Asian American, literary readings, spoken word, poetry reading

Monday, September 18, 2017

#Authors Sansu Ramsey & Amanda Ngoho Reavey in HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings Oct 7 & 8, 2017 #FilAm Book Fest

FEATURED AUTHORS:

Here are two more authors who'll be participating in the HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings in San Francisco on October 7 and 8, 2017.  These readings are part of the Filipino American International Book Festival. They will be held at the San Francisco Main Library at 100 Larkin Street, Civic Center, San Francisco, CA 94102.

I'll be featuring more participants of the HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings, so stay tuned!


To view the complete schedule of the three HOT OFF THE PRESS Literary Readings, click here: http://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2017/09/schedule-hot-off-press-literary.html.






Sansu Ramsey will read from:
            Elizabeth Ramsey, Queen of Philippine Rock N' Roll (2017)













Daughter of Queen of Rock and Roll Elizabeth Ramsey, Susan Ramsey or Sansu started her show business career as the 13-year-old back-up dancer for her mother. After raising her family, Sansu hosted her own variety TV show, the Sansu Show, a weekly variety talk show featuring inspirational, talented and successful Global Pinoys. Sansu had always envisioned that “a little bit of comedy, some singing and dancing, my uniquely-hearty laughter, and her Bisaya- accented English with English sub-titles” would bridge the gap between young and old, communities of color, and lifestyles. 






Amanda Ngoho Reavey  will read from:                                            .
            Marilyn. (The Operating System, 2015)














Amanda Ngoho Reavey is a poet and teacher interested in ancestral stories and plant spirit communication. She is the author of Marilyn, winner of the 2017 Best Book Award in Poetry from the Association for Asian American Studies, and her poems and essays appear in Construction Literary Magazine, Anthropoid, TRUCK, and Evening Will Come, among others. Reavey is the founder and managing editor of Tea & Tattered Pages, and she works at Woodland Pattern Book Center. She has an MFA in Writing & Poetics from Naropa University. For more information visit https://amandangohoreavey.com/.


Tags: #FilAm #FilAmBookFest #literature #poetry authors, writers, Philippine American, fiction, books, Asian American, literary readings, spoken word, poetry reading