One-on-One with Author Cecilia Manguerra Brainard About the Frankfurt and Porto Alegre Book Fairs

I’m hap­py to start 2026 with a talk for The Vicente Sot­to Lec­ture Series, USC Cebuano Stud­ies Cen­ter, on Mani­la time — Fri­day, Jan­u­ary 9, 2026. Here is infor­ma­tion about this Zoom-talk:

***

Title: ONE-ON-ONE WITH AUTHOR CECILIA MANGUERRA BRAINARD ABOUT THE FRANKFURT AND PORTO ALEGRE BOOK FAIRS

In this talk, inter­na­tion­al­ly-acclaimed writer Cecil­ia Manguer­ra Brainard shares her first-hand obser­va­tions from her par­tic­i­pa­tion in two major inter­na­tion­al lit­er­ary events: the Frank­furt Book Fair in Ger­many (2024 and 2025) and the Por­to Ale­gre Book Fair in Brazil, where she was invit­ed as a speak­er. Draw­ing from these expe­ri­ences, she reflects on how Fil­ipino pub­lish­ers and authors are per­ceived in glob­al spaces, the oppor­tu­ni­ties and chal­lenges that arise when rep­re­sent­ing Philip­pine lit­er­a­ture abroad, and ulti­mate­ly, whether involve­ment in such inter­na­tion­al book fairs is worthwhile.

Brainard’s per­spec­tive is shaped not only by her pro­fes­sion­al engage­ment in these events but also by her ongo­ing cre­ative work, which involves writ­ing sto­ries root­ed in the his­to­ry, mem­o­ry, and cul­ture of Cebu. By bring­ing Cebuano nar­ra­tives to wider inter­na­tion­al audi­ences, she aims to affirm their place in glob­al lit­er­ary con­ver­sa­tions. Her talk rais­es time­ly ques­tions about vis­i­bil­i­ty, cul­tur­al pres­ence, and the val­ue of advo­cat­ing for Philip­pine, and specif­i­cal­ly Cebuano, sto­ries on the world stage.

#GoH2025

#FrankfurtBookFair2025

#Imag­i­na­tion­Peo­plestheAir

#brazil­book­fair

#por­toale­gre­book­fair

#Cebuano­Lit­er­a­ture

#cebu­lit­er­a­ture

#Philip­pineLit­er­a­ture

#fil­ipino­lit­er­a­ture

#fil­ipinoau­thors

#fil­ipino­lit­er­a­ture

#FBM2025