A Celebration of Women’s History Month
Honoring Filipino American Women Authors
March 31, 2012
BBC’s great pleasure was attending a community gathering of Filipino American women authors in Toluca Lake, California. As the saying goes, “a chance to break bread together, talk and bond with other Pinay Sisters in the community” made us wordly indeed in the presence of well acclaimed authors in the community.
Two featured authors celebrated the publication of their books, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, author of “Out of Cebu: a Collection of Essays and Personal Prose”, collecting 28 essays about the Cebuano heritage and family ties to her mother’s family – the Cuencos, a prominent political family in Cebu. The book is marvelous in prose and gives an imaginative and reflective ambience of Cebu. Her essays celebrate a pride in our heritage especially in going back to Parian where the family old house is situated.
Ofelia V. Dirige and Aurora S. Cudal, co-authors of “Global Filipino Cuisine: Healthy Recipes” is a blend of traditional native cooking. This is a unique cookbook from its original tasty recipes modified to be healthy – lower in fat, cholesterol, salt, and sugar. Now while we continue our traditional cooking of adobo, kare-kare, arroz caldo, and deserts in leche flan, halo-halo, and other time honored Filipino cuisine, the book will find useful in re-evaluating the nutritional quality and modified to be healthy.
The honor of meeting other authors as well who signed their books include:
Ludy Astraquillo Ongkeko-- “Forty Years of Writing in Camerica”
Myrna J. de la Paz (aka Myrna Mulhern)--"Abadeha: The Philippine Cinderella",
Roselyn Estepa Ibanez, co-author with Florante Ibanez--“Filipinos in Carson and South Bay",
Carina Monica Montoya (aka Carina Forsythe)--“Los Angeles’ Historic Filipinotown; Filipinos in Hollywood and "Let's Cook Adobo, a juvenile cookbook".
Carlene Sobrino Bonnivier--" Seeking Thirst: A Novel" and "Autobiography of a Stranger"
Special mention goes to Hilda Mauro of Pizza per Tutti Pizzeria & Trattoria for the sumptuous Italian cuisine.
Finally we would like to thank Linda Nietes of Philippine Expressions Bookshop for organizing the event. She has the vision to increase the visibility of Filipino authors into mainstream America. We at BisayaBulletin.com wholeheartedly support her vision and we are looking forward to the next book event!
