News Updates on PALHBOOKS
5/1/25 - PALH is proud to announce the release of Linda Ty-Casper's LIVES REMEMBERED, A MEMOIR.
The award-winning novelist describes her work this way: “This memoir is about the lives of all the people who have become a part of me and made me who I am.”
In her Memoir, Ty-Casper pours her heart into sentences that bring to life the people, places, experiences, and memories that, at the age of 94 remain precious to her. She starts with her earliest memories describing where she lived and the people who populated her world then. There is Nanay the Grandmother who had seven children, and who became widowed, moved to Manila with her four daughters, and there played at the gaming tables to help support her family. This grandmother told Linda stories about the Philippine revolution against Spain, the war with the Americans, and who used to tell her, “Someone should write this story, the story of my life.” The young Linda took her grandmother’s words to heart and eventually wrote historical novels and other books, over 18 in total, including the recently reissued Three-Cornered Sun (Exploding Galaxies 2024).
She received the SEA Write Award, the ALIWW Parangal and FAWN, among others; grants from Harvard, Radcliffe, Wheatland; residences include Bellagio Rockefeller Center, Djerassi, Siliman, UP Writers.
Book Trailer of Lives Remembered — https://youtu.be/iCqlj3dOx8Q
PALH is proud to announce that some of its titles will be showcased at the 2024 Frankfurt Book Fair including:A River, One-Woman Deep: Stories by Linda Ty-Casper (also published by UST Ph)Will You Happen, Past the Silence, Through the Dark: Remembering Leonard Ralph Casper by Linda Ty-Casper (also published by the Ateneo de Manila)Benedicta Takes Wing and Other Stories by Veronica Montes (also published by UST Ph)
Fundamentals of Creative Writing, Revised and Expanded Edition by Cecilia Brainard
Magdalena by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard (also published by UST Ph)The Newspaper Widow by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard (also published by UST Ph)Selected Short Stories by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard (also published by UST Ph)
When the Rainbow Goddess Wept by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard will also be at the 2024 Frankfurt Book Fair (published by UST PH and University of Michigan Press)
Anthologies edited by Cecilia Brainard:Asian and Philippine FolktalesContemporary Fiction by Filipinos in AmericaFiction by Filipinos in America
Growing Up Filipino 1,2, and 3
Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, who will be a Philippine delegate at the the Frankfurt Book Fair will will be on hand to discuss the books she authored and edited; and she will also discuss titles published by PALH. For the PALH catalogue- scan QR code above.
PALH is also proud to announce that Linda Ty-Casper's Will You Happen, Past the Silence, Through the Dark: Remembering Leonard Ralph Casper (PALH 2022) has a Philippine edition by the Ateneo de Manila Press (2023). Linda Ty-Casper's novel, Tri-Cornered Sun was reissued in 2024 by Exploding Galaxies in Manila.Veronica Montes' Benedicta Takes Wing and Other Stories, published by PALH in 2017 has a Philippine edition by the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House (2024).Please visit PALHBOOKS.com for more information.
~~~10/12/24 - PALH proudly announces the release of Fundamentals of Creative Writing, Revised and Expanded Edition and Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites, both by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites:WITH AN IMPRIMATUR FROM ARCHBISHOP OF MANILA LUIS ANTONIO D. TAGLE D.D.
This religious Catholic book collects 24 Marian devotees' accounts of their experiences in Marian pilgrim sites. The sites are found in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, India, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United States, and there are eight Pilgrim sites in the Philippines. The book includes short write-ups of other international pilgrim sites and some Catholic Prayers.
PRAISEProfoundly Marian and beautifully written by the contributors as these are their personal experiences! To our fellow devotees and would-be devotees of the Blessed Virgin Mary, you will surely fall in love with Magnificat: Mama Mary's Pilgrim Sites and love Our Blessed Mother even more. ~ +Leopoldo C. Jaucian, SVD, DD, Bishop of Bangued, Philippines
The devotion to Mama Mary is strong in the hearts of every Filipino. ~ James B. Reuter, SJ, Author of the Mama Mary and Her Children series.
The Magnificat has always been a testament to God's paradoxical dealings with his people. This book assembles a tableau of witnesses to how a fleeting visit with Mary can turn into a life-changing introduction to her Son. Through their stories the author offers their readers the distinct possibility of setting the stage for a personal, if vicarious, epiphany. ~ Dionisio M. Miranda, SVD, President, University of San Carlos in Cebu
Running as a leitmotif in all the essays in this book is the writers' palpable love for Mama Mary. Each writer has undergone a change in his or her life or outlook following a visit to a Marian site. Some may have experienced a "miracle," or felt consoled and renewed; others a deepening of spirituality, or an epiphany, an insight into the divine. Although we know that Jesus is the only Way to the Father, it is our belief in the power of Mary's intercession to her Son, borne out of the Bible's Cana story, that makes us all turn to her, whom Her divine Son will never refuse. Kudos to Cecilia Manguerra Brainard for putting together an engaging collection of stories that magnify the humble handmaid of the Lord. ~ Erlinda E. Panlilio ~ Award-winning Writer and Editor
8/7/24 - PALH will be releasing Fundamentals of Creative Writing, Revised and Expanded Edition, in September 2024. Following is the description of the book:
Fundamentals of Creative Writing, Revised and Expanded Edition is a practical how-to-write book that can be used as a text book or it can be read by those interested in learning how to write. The author Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, an award-winning fiction writer, who taught for over 25 years at UCLA Extension’s Writers Program and other universities, shares all the tools needed to write fiction and creative non-fiction. She breaks down the basic elements of creative writing such as setting, scene, character, conflict, dialogue, plot, and so on into sections. Each section starts with a concept, followed by related exercises, and a story or two to illustrate the creative writing component just discussed.
This book includes the author’s advice to beginning writers, and a lengthy interview of the author, in which the author discusses her background, what got her started in writing, the struggles she faced, her development as a writer. She also discusses the genesis of some of her stories including her three novels.
The author’s no-nonsense approach makes this book useful to many instructors of Creative Writing who will appreciate the straightforward guidance, writing activities, and complementary stories in the book. This book, Fundamentals of Creative Writing, Revised and Expanded Edition offers more information to demystify and explain the writing process thus enhancing the learning experience of the beginning writer.
A slimmer first edition of Fundamentals of Creative Writing was published by Anvil in 2009 and used by many teachers of Creative Writing.
Press Release - https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2024/08/fundamentals-of-creative-writing.html
Cecilia Brainard here, writer editor and publisher of PALH or Philippine American Literary House.
We've taken the time during this pandemic to publish the hardcover edition of Growing Up Filipino: Stories for Young Adults. Through the years, the book has been pirated and sold illegally in hardcover form. We finally took the time to publish a hardcover for this book. Look for it and please recommend it to your librarian.
PALH has also published softcover US paperback Editions of two fine anthologies that were originally published in the Philippines: Fiction by Filipinos in America and Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America. These are available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online bookshops. Ingram and other distributors carry these titles. These books are excellent collections of short stories by Filipino and Filipino American authors and deserve to be in American libraries.
Here are additional information of interest about our other books:
PALH’s titles include:
Linda Ty-Casper’s A River, One-Woman Deep, Stories, of which 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.
PALH’s author of Benedicta Takes Wing and Other Stories, Veronica Montes, recently won the Black Lawrence Price for their Black River Chapbook Competition. Her debut collection of 14 stories, Benedicta Takes Wing and other Stories, has been praised as stories that explore the intricate workings of Filipino families as they struggle to define their place in the world.
Further PALH published a Special International Edition, titled Please, San Antonio! and Melisande in Paris, 2 novellas set in Italy and in France. Authored by Eve La Salle Caram and Cecilia Brainard, the stories are about women who find healing in relationships. The book also has delightedly illustrations by Nina Lim-Yuson.
Thanks for your time, and I’m hoping you will support the work of Philippine American Literary House so it can continue fine Filipino and Filipino American books. Look for palhbooks.com or in Facebook, search Philippine American Literary House.
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Salamat 2/21/21
tags: Philippines Philippine Filipino Pinoy books book literature literary women fiction young adults teen teenagers FilipinX teachers educators librarian
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About PALH
Author Bios
Benedicta Takes Wing and Other Stories by Veronica Montes
Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America Ed by Brainard
Fiction by Filipinos in America Ed by Brainard
Fundamentals of Creative Writing, Revised and Expanded Edition by Cecilia Brainard
Growing Up Filipino: Stories for Young Adults Ed by Brainard
Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults Ed by Brainard
Journey of 100 Years: Reflections on the Centennial of Philippine Independence, Ed Edmundo Litton
Lives Remembered, A Memoir by Linda Ty-Casper