Filipino authors light up Filipino American History Month event at Carson Public Library

From left, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Lorenzo Paran III, Samantha Sotto and
Carlene Sobrino Bonnivier smile for the camera after their authors reading program
at the Carson Public Library on Oct. 8, 2011. (Photo by Franz Tinio Lopez)

CARSON, Calif. — On Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011, Filipino book lovers in the Carson, Calif., area received a special treat: four Filipino authors reading from their books.

The occasion was the latest in a series of “book talks” organized by the Philippine Expressions Bookshop. The online bookseller held the event, in cooperation with the Carson Public Library, to mark Filipino American History Month.

The four authors were Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Samantha Sotto, Carlene Sobrino Bonnivier and Lorenzo Paran III.

Brainard, prolific author and anthologist, read from her two latest books, Vigan and Other Stories and Angelica's Daughters. The latter, as she explained, was co-written with four other women in the Philippines’ dugtungan style of writing. (The dugtungan consists of a group of people taking turns developing a story.)

Samantha Sotto, left, and Carson
Public Library Manager Leticia B.
Tan, hold copies of Sotto's novel,
"Before Ever After," after the authors'
reading event on Oct. 8, 2011. Sotto
and the three other writers donated
copies of their books to the library.
(Photo by Franz Tinio Lopez)

Sotto, who became the toast of the Filipino writing community after her debut novel, Before Ever After, was picked up by Random House, one of the world’s biggest publishers, read excerpts from the novel.

Paran gave the audience a taste of “Pinoy in America: The stateside life in the time of Barack Obama, Facebook and Pacquiao-mania,” his collection of essays on Filipino-American immigrant life.

Finally, Bonnivier, who writes fiction and poetry, read from Seeking Thirst, her novel , which is partly set in Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown, where she grew up.

After the authors read from their works, the gathering broke up to enjoy refreshments and also to look at a display of Philippine World War II photographs.

The intermission gave the authors a chance to sign copies of their books for the guests. Everyone then returned to their seats for a question-and-answer session with the authors. The Q&A, which was limited to a few questions because time was running out for the program, was devoted to Sotto, who was asked how she came up with Before Ever After and how it came to the attention of Random House.

Sotto cheerfully obliged, telling the audience how her novel came to be and the serendipitous journey it took from a Manila Starbucks to Random House.

But the afternoon belonged to all four authors—and the crowd, who graciously turned up not just to celebrate the writers and their books but also Filipino-American history.