FIL AM · FILIPINO

FYI @JoseIsWriting recently followed me @JFPerseveranda. Salamat! Now I can say a Pulitzer Prize winner follows yours truly on Twitter. 🙏 WHITE IS NOT A COUNTRY WHITE IS NOT A COUNTRY WHITE IS NOT A COUNTRY WHITE IS NOT A COUNTRY WHITE IS NOT A COUNTRY WHITE IS NOT A COUNTRY WHITE IS NOT A COUNTRY — Jose Antonio Vargas (@joseiswriting) January 13, 2021 Being a journalist is central to my identity, and I am thrilled that my next book––to be published by the wonderful @likaluca at @PantheonBooks ––is a journalistic exploration on race in America titled "White Is Not a Country." https://t.co/0KtM0IHXvd pic.twitter.com/6zZXUO0s9L — Jose Antonio Vargas (@joseiswriting) January 29, 2021 A huge congrats to @joseiswriting for landing a 2nd book deal! In his new book, we will be exploring where do we all, documented or not, fit in the conversation of race and identity in the US? “White Is Not a Country” will be published in 2023. https://t.co/F7yrNsOPCw — Define Amer...

I finally took this book from my bookshelf and started reading yesterday. Let's see if I can finish it in the month of February. From Amazon: The Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran represents the most comprehensive volume of works of the Lebanese poet and philosopher ever published. This enriching collection of stories, prose poems, verse, parables and autobiographical essays comprises the major body of Kahlil Gibran’s works. Each of the ten books included in this beautifully bound collectors’ volume has been hailed by critics as literary masterpieces. The works in this collection clearly demonstrate why critics regard Kahlil Gibran as eminent among the world's great writers.  His writings reflect the wistful beauty, fierce anger, lofty majesty and the abiding peace that Eastern wisdom achieves in its contemplation. I got the nudge from my new 'Twitter friend.' Grief is an absolute beast. If you find that you need people to talk to who aren't uncomfortable with ...

There really is a book 'The Useful Idiot' on Donald Trump! A pandemic never occurred to them. The idea that Donald Trump would ever be required to sit still, pay attention and make rational decisions that would determine whether hundreds of thousands of Americans would live or die not once crossed the minds of those who put him into the Oval Office. For whatever reason, even as they watched the noise and chaos and nonsense generated by candidate Donald Trump for a full year and a half, the consequences of a real crisis requiring real leadership actually happening on the watch of a President Donald Trump never really dawned on them. useful idiot: noun:  a naive or credulous person who can be manipulated or exploited to advance a cause or political agenda Three and a half years later, here we are. Approaching 200,000 dead Americans and counting, with a president who grew bored of the crisis months ago. This after the racial and ethnic divisions Trump has enflamed, th...

Kevin Leo Yabut Nadal (Author) My new book is out! https://t.co/eKuo3MSvAH — Kevin Nadal, Ph.D. (@kevinnadal) September 2, 2020 Throughout US history, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people have been pathologized, victimized, and criminalized. Reports of lynching, burning, or murdering of LGBTQ people have been documented for centuries. Prior to the 1970s, LGBTQ people were deemed as having psychological disorders and subsequently subject to electroshock therapy and other ineffective and cruel treatments. LGBTQ people have historically been arrested or imprisoned for crimes like sodomy, cross-dressing, and gathering in public spaces. And while there have been many strides to advocate for LGBTQ rights in contemporary times, there are still many ways that the criminal justice system works against LGBTQ and their lives, liberties, and freedoms. Queering Law and Order: LGBTQ Communities and the Criminal Justice System  examines the state of LGBTQ p...

Fil-Am author Lia Ocampo put together stories of former Filipino-U.S. embassy employees who chose to live life in the so-called 'Land of the free'. The Philippines and the United States have long standing relations with strong historical and cultural linkages. In fact millions of our 'kababayans' are now living in the U.S. But what are the different challenges Filipino immigrants have to face and experience there?

If you're a fan of Anne Rice & The Vampire Chronicles (as I am), you'll have to read this. W hen Marcella Leones relocates her family of aswang vampires from the Philippines to Portland , Oregon, she raises her grandchildren under strict rules so humans will not expose them. Her only wish is to give them a peaceful life, far away from the hunters and the Filipino government that attempted to exterminate them. Before she dies, she passes on the power to her eldest grandchild, Percival. He vows to uphold the rules set forth by Leones, allowing his family to roam freely without notice. After all, they are aswangs. However, when the aswang covenant is broken, the murder rate in Portland rises drastically. Who is behind the murders? And who is behind the broken covenant? Along with sensie Penelope Jane, Percival must find the truth. It's then they discover that there are other breeds of aswangs--werebeasts, witches, ghouls, and viscera--who have been residing i...

I am a writer, and I have always been inclined to writing ever since I have learned grammar in school. For someone whose first language is English, it is not surprising to be a writer; but having published a book for children and to be asked the question in the U.S., "Did you write it in English or in your language?" surprises me. Most Filipino writers I know, write in English - and proficiently. Unless one had a further degree in Filipino language , then this is another unique story. Anyone who grew up in the Philippines and finished a degree through the country's educational system,  can totally relate to this blog.  The country, being so diverse in its culture has 8 major languages and over 170 dialects. Small archipelago as it is, the neighboring townspeople do not speak the same language as the other, nor their dialects/languages come similar as Portuguese would be to Spanish . So as an Ilocano , I spoke Ilocano in my daily life, except in formal instructi...

I'm a Filipino author of illustration books for children. My books are based on Philippine folktales and are of Philippine settings that reflect the values embraced in our culture. The moral lessons in the books are great for young readers ages 3 and up. The book series is called the Tales of POTOS (Pear of the Orient Seas), where characters are mostly animals that tell how each animal earns its distinguishing feature: for example, the firefly story tells how the firefly got its light. I saw your page, and I'm hopeful you can help me get the word out there that these book series is out there waiting to be discovered by young readers, mostly from our culture. My books are available in Amazon, 2 are already out and the 3rd one coming in March. Thank you and I hope to hear from you. May this message find you well. Salamat po, and by the way, I am a full-blooded Ilocano , born and raised in the Claveria, Cagayan valley Philippines. Regards, Mylene Leumin Note: Th...

Join us Thursday, October 4th, at 7:00 p.m. in the Welker Room of James Laughlin Music Hall, on Chatham University’s Shadyside campus for Dialogues: Turning South. The Chatham University MFA in Creative Writing Program will host visiting authors Safia Elhillo and M. Evelina Galang as they read from their work and engage in conversations about the ways in which their being women of the Global South has affected their creative work. The event is free and open to the public. About Safia Elhillo: Sudanese by way of Washington, DC, is the author of The January Children (University of Nebraska Press, 2017). She received the the 2016 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets and is co-winner of the 2015 Brunel International African Poetry Prize. Safia is a Cave Canem fellow and holds an MFA in poetry from The New School. She is co-editor of the anthology Halal If You Hear Me (Haymarket Books, 2019). About M. Evelina Galang: M. Evelina has been named one of the 100 most influe...