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Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

author and editor

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PALH Books (Philippine American Literary House)

PALH Books (Philippine American Literary House)

Hel­lo, I’m shar­ing the main page of PALH (Philip­pine Amer­i­can Lit­er­ary House), which I run. New titles include Lin­da Ty-Casper’s “Mem­oir” of her late hus­band, Leonard Ralph Casper (Will You Hap­pen, Past the Silence, Through the Dark: Remem­ber­ing Leonard Ralph Casper) and Grow­ing Up Fil­ipino 3: New Sto­ries for Young Adults, pub­lished by the Uni­ver­si­ty of San­to Tomas Pub­lish­ing House and PALH.

https://ceciliabrainard.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/PALH-Philippine-American-Literary-House-Information.mp4

PALH also known as PALHBOOKS.com or Philip­pine Amer­i­can Lit­er­ary House is a pub­lish­er of Philip­pine and Philip­pine Amer­i­can books and Kin­dle e‑books. They are avail­able online Bookshop.org (PALH Store), Ama­zon, Barnes & Noble among others.

Bene­dic­ta Takes Wing and Oth­er Stories
by Veron­i­ca Montes
PALH 2018, 190 pages
ISBN 9780971945876 (sc) BOOKSHOP ORDER
ISBN 9780971945869 (hb) — BOOKSHOP ORDER

Bene­dic­ta Takes Wing and Oth­er Sto­ries, is the debut col­lec­tion of short fic­tion by Fil­ipino Amer­i­can writer Veron­i­ca Montes. In these four­teen sto­ries, Montes explores the intri­cate work­ings of Fil­ipino fam­i­lies as they strug­gle to define their place in the world. Two Amer­i­can-born sis­ters bum­ble their way through an unfor­get­table night at a Mani­la night­club famed for its staff of midgets. The moth­er of leg­endary war­rior Gabriela Silang has been lost to his­to­ry, but here she is giv­en voice to share her sto­ry. A lone­ly, mid­dle-aged wom­an’s life changes when she stum­bles on a sur­ro­gate son and togeth­er they cre­ate a makeshift fam­i­ly. “Veron­i­ca Montes limn the lives of Fil­ipino fam­i­lies,” writes author Ben­i­to Ver­gara, “with wit, sim­mer­ing fury, and an abun­dance of gen­eros­i­ty. With her sharp eye for the telling detail, she depicts the grief and every­day joy hand­ed down as inher­i­tance, the affec­tions and denials the bind Fil­ipino fam­i­lies togeth­er.” In 2020 Veron­i­ca Montes won the Black Lawrence Price for their Black Riv­er Chap­book competition.

 

Con­tem­po­rary Fic­tion by Fil­ipinos in America
Ed Cecil­ia Brainard
PALH 2021, 284 pages
ISBN 9781952716095 (sc) — BOOKSHOP ORDER 

This is a 2021 US Edi­tion of Con­tem­po­rary Fic­tion by Fil­ipinos in Amer­i­ca which  col­lects 26 sto­ries by emerg­ing as well as estab­lished Fil­ipino writ­ers liv­ing in Amer­i­ca, includ­ing Luis Cabalquin­to, Lin­da Ty-Casper, Jay Ruben Dayrit, Alma Jill Dizon, Lig­aya Vic­to­ria Fru­to, N.V.M. Gon­za­lez, Vince Gotera, Pauli­no Lim, Jr., Veron­i­ca Montes, Oscar Penaran­da, Edgar Poma, Greg Sar­ris, Eileen Tabios, John Sil­va, Mar­i­anne Vil­lanue­va, Fati­ma Lim-Wil­son, and others.

This anthol­o­gy, plus oth­ers Cecil­ia Brainard edit­ed (includ­ing Fic­tion by Fil­ipinos in Amer­i­ca, Grow­ing Up Fil­ipino I and II) are valu­able sources for many teach­ers. To quote Harold Augen­braum, “Brainard has done a fine job bring­ing many lit­tle-known writ­ers – and the edgi­ness of Fil­ipinos in Amer­i­ca – to the fore.”

 

Fic­tion by Fil­ipinos in America
Ed Cecil­ia Brainard
PALH 2020, 258 pages, (SC) — BOOKSHOP ORDER

This anthol­o­gy has been reprint­ed by PALH in 2020. The 1992 edi­tion by New Day is out of print.

(Edi­tor) Manguer­ra Brainard’s selec­tion is a delight. Some of the sto­ries are mas­ter­ly, espe­cial­ly those writ­ten by such reli­ables as Car­los Bulosan, Lin­da Ty-Casper, N.V.M. Gon­za­lez, and Alber­to S. Flo­renti­no. None is less than high­ly com­pe­tent, and all are worth read­ing. Manguer­ra Brainard has done an excel­lent job of mix­ing crit­i­cal judge­ment and per­son­al taste.” (World Lit­er­a­ture Today)

 


Grow­ing Up Fil­ipino: Sto­ries for Young Adults
Ed Cecil­ia Brainard
PALH 2003, 283 pages
ISBN 9780971945807 (sc) — BOOKSHOP ORDER

ISBN 9781953716002 (hc) — BOOKSHOP ORDER

This book was includ­ed in Nation­al Geo­graph­ic’s 2020 Sum­mer Read­ing List:

“Emerg­ing and estab­lished award-win­ning writ­ers are the authors of this fine col­lec­tion of 29 sto­ries about what it means to be young and Fil­ipino in the Philip­pines and in the Unit­ed States…This impres­sive array cap­tures the com­plex­i­ties of both the Fil­ipino cul­ture and his­to­ry and the real­i­ties of the lives of young adults no mat­ter what their eth­nic affil­i­a­tion. Each sto­ry is assigned to one of five uni­ver­sal themes: fam­i­ly, angst, friend­ship, love, and home” ~ Glen­na Sloan, Book­bird Jour­nal International

 

Grow­ing Up Fil­ipino II: More Sto­ries for Young Adults
Ed Cecil­ia Brainard
PALH 2009, 258 pages
ISBN 9780971945838 (sc) — BOOKSHOP ORDER

ISBN 9780971945821 (hb) — BOOKSHOP ORDER

This book was includ­ed in Nation­al Geo­graph­ic’s 2020 Sum­mer Read­ing List:

“This col­lec­tion of 27 short sto­ries, the fol­lowup to the crit­i­cal­ly-acclaimed Grow­ing Up Fil­ipino, reflects the impact of post‑9/11 wartime sen­si­bil­i­ties among Fil­ipino writ­ers liv­ing in the Philip­pines, Unit­ed States, and Cana­da. Although sim­i­lar top­ics of fam­i­ly, mem­oir, and com­ing-of-age thread through both col­lec­tions, the pieces are not grouped by theme, but nev­er­the­less weave a con­stant­ly shift­ing tapes­try of Fil­ipino iden­ti­ty. The chal­lenges and con­flicts of unique ances­try and strug­gles for iden­ti­ty pro­vide a rich back­ground for mod­ern urban real­ism … These is plen­ty here to stim­u­late dis­cus­sion and encour­age an appre­ci­a­tion of Fil­ipino writ­ing and cul­ture. The anthol­o­gy is a wor­thy suc­ces­sor to the first vol­ume and has appeal to an audi­ence beyond high schoool lit­er­a­ture cours­es.” ~ Rox­anne Spencer, School Library Journal

 

Grow­ing Up Fil­ipino 3: New Sto­ries for Young Adults
Ed Cecil­ia Brainard
PALH 2023, 339 pages
ISBN 9781953715170 (sc) — BOOKSHOP ORDER

ISBN 97819537163 (hb) ORDER AMAZON
Uni­ver­si­ty of San­to Tomas Pub­lish­ing House 2022 — Order from Laza­da and Shopee

This anthol­o­gy fol­lows two ear­li­er Grow­ing Up Fil­ipino books. This col­lects 25 short sto­ries by Fil­ipino authors in in the US and the Philip­pines about what it means to be young and Fil­ipino. The sto­ries explore the uni­ver­sal themes of com­ing-of-age, love, angst, fam­i­ly, rela­tion­ships, and oth­er young adult issues. The sto­ries reveal Fil­ipino and Fil­ipino Amer­i­can cul­ture, mores, his­to­ry, soci­ety, pol­i­tics, and oth­er nuances. For instance, Fil­ipino respect for their elders, extend­ed fam­i­lies, reli­gious prac­tices, fune­re­al rites, love for folk­lore are appar­ent in the stories.

 

Jour­ney of 100 Years: Reflec­tions on the Cen­ten­ni­al of Philip­pine Independence
PAWWA 2009, Dis­trib­uted by PALH, 260 pages
ISBN 0963228102 — Order from palhbooks@gmail.com

“In this ambi­tious book, sev­en­teen lead­ing schol­ars and writ­ers sur­vey some sig­nif­i­cant themes and issues in the Philip­pines and the Unit­ed States dur­ing the 20th cen­tu­ry. We have Cecil­ia Manguer­ra Brainard on the sig­nif­i­cance of Mag­el­lan’s voy­age, and Edmun­do F. Lit­ton on colo­nial­ism and edu­ca­tion. Epi­fanio San Juan on the Fil­ipino dias­po­ra, Val­o­rie Slaugh­ter Bejara­no on Fil­ipino life in L.A., Luisa Iglo­ria on rev­o­lu­tion­ary Fil­ipino wom­en’s poet­ry, and much more. This work offers an impor­tant insight into the his­to­ry of the Philip­pines and will become a bench­mark for future stud­ies.” ~ Roger N. Buck­ley, Pro­fes­sor of His­to­ry and Direc­tor, Asian Amer­i­can Stud­ies Insti­tute, Uni­ver­si­ty of Connecticut.

 

Please, San Anto­nio! & Melisande in Paris: Two Novel­las, Spe­cial Inter­na­tion­al Edition
by Eve La Salle Caram and Cecil­ia Brainard
PALH, 2018, 168 pages (sc)
ISBN 9780971945883 — BOOKSHOP ORDER 

In Eve LaSalle Caram’s Please, San Anto­nio!, an emo­tion­al­ly iso­lat­ed Amer­i­can wom­an’s trip to Rome becomes a pow­er­ful quest to find what she has lost: her cre­ativiey, iden­ti­ty, and “an open place in her heart.”

In Cecil­ia Manguer­ra Brainard’s Melisande in Paris, a young seam­stress from the French coun­try­side comes to Paris to assist her dress­mak­er aunt, and dis­cov­ers her tal­ent, strength, and a pre­cious “feel­ing of whole­ness” in her new lover’s arms.

Togeth­er, Caram’s Beat­rice and Brainard’s Melisande cross geo­graph­i­cal bor­ders and bor­ders of the heart with vital­i­ty and spir­it, and will inspire those who believe in the pos­si­bil­i­ty of heav­en on earth.

The book of novel­las is also avail­able from Barnes and Noble Online, in which there is a nice review of it that says:

“Great Sum­mer Read that Takes you to Italy & France: I love this book of two novel­las by two cre­ative writ­ing teach­ers. One sto­ry is set in Italy and the oth­er in Paris, and so read­ing the book is like tak­ing a vaca­tion. The pro­tag­o­nists are women who find heal­ing in rela­tion­ships. There’s good writ­ing in these gen­tle love­ly sto­ries. The book also has delight­ful illus­tra­tions by Nina Lim-Yuson. I enjoyed this book very much.”

 

A Riv­er, One Woman-Deep: Stories
by Lin­da Ty-Casper
PALH 2017, 228 pages
ISBN 9780971945852 (sc) — BOOKSHOP ORDER
ISBN 987097191945845 (hb) — BOOKSHOP ORDER

Win­ner of the SEA Write and oth­er Awards, Fil­ip­ina writer Lin­da Ty-Casper, who is not­ed for her his­tor­i­cal fic­tion set in the Philip­pines, presents this new sto­ry col­lec­tion that includes her novel­la of the same title.

Her novel­la is set dur­ing the tumul­tuous Estra­da years from 1998 to 2001 when the Philip­pine pres­i­dent rose to pow­er and was impeached after mas­sive ral­lies. The main char­ac­ter is a Fil­ip­ina-Amer­i­can who uncov­ers a fam­i­ly secret dur­ing her vis­it to Mani­la, a secret caused by anoth­er trau­mat­ic his­toric event in the Philip­pines — World War Two. Her oth­er sto­ries are about Fil­ipino and Fil­ipino-Amer­i­can women.

World Lit­er­a­ture Today’s Nota Bene sec­tion reviewed: “In this col­lec­tion of sto­ries, Fil­ip­ina Amer­i­can Lin­da Ty-Casper runs her fin­ger along the scars left behind in the wake of his­tor­i­cal events in the Philip­pines pars­ing out what it means to live through and after the trau­ma of dic­ta­tor­ships and war.

Ty-Casper’s A Riv­er, One-Woman Deep: Sto­ries is also pub­lished by the Uni­ver­si­ty of San­to Tomas Pub­lish­ing House in the Philippines.

 

Will You Hap­pen, Past the Silence, Through the Dark? Remem­ber­ing Leonard Ralph Casper
by Lin­da Ty-Casper
PALH 2022, 346 pages
ISBN 9781953716200 (sc) — BOOKSHOP ORDER 
ISBN 9781953716231 (hc) — ORDER AMAZON

Award-win­ning Fil­ipino nov­el­ist, Lin­da-Ty-Casper — the author of this biog­ra­phy, says this book is the Mem­oir that her hus­band Leonard Ralph Casper did not get to write. Born in Fond du Lac Wis­con­sin in 1923, Leonard Casper had a full life as a writer, an aca­d­e­m­ic, a lit­er­ary crit­ic until he passed away in 2018.

Lin­da Ty-Casper col­lects the let­ters to and from Leonard Casper, let­ters which reflect who he was to many friends, high school class­mates, teach­ers and pro­fes­sors, col­leagues in the Uni­ver­si­ties of Rhode Island, Ate­neo Uni­ver­si­ty of Mani­la, Uni­ver­si­ty of the Philip­pines and Wis­con­sin, from edi­tors of South­west Review who encour­aged Len to send sto­ries from the Euro­pean front dur­ing World War II; from Robert Penn War­ren start­ing with his first let­ter of inquiry (two pages) when he began on his dis­ser­ta­tion at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin, the dis­ser­ta­tion becom­ing the first book on War­ren, which crit­ics said showed the way for lat­er books on the South­ern writ­ers. There are let­ters from Fil­ipino writ­ers Len grew to know as friends from years of teach­ing in the Philippines.

~~~

PALH sells Rare Fil­ip­ini­ana books and ephemera — click here. 

Email palhbooks@gmail.com or palh@aol.com for more information.

Tags: Fil­ipino Amer­i­can books, Fil­Am lit­er­a­ture, Philip­pine lit­er­a­ture, Fil­ipino lit­er­a­ture, Fil­ipino books, Fil­ipino authors. Fil­ipino Amer­i­can authors, Fil­ipino Amer­i­can books, Fil­ipino books for teens, Fil­ipino chil­dren’s books

 


Tagged with: Other Books

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Cecil­ia Brainard
c/o PALH
PO Box 5099
San­ta Mon­i­ca, CA 90409
USA

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