PALH at the 2024 Frankfurt Book Fair - Titles Showcased with Agent Information
PALH or Philippine American Literary House is a small publishing house that publishes select Philippine and Filipino American books of fiction. Many of its titles are published both in the US and in the Philippines.
PALH’s roots go back to 1991 when a group
of seven Filipinas in the US formed a support group called Philippine American
Women Writers and Artists (PAWWA). These women went on to publish and sell Filipino
and Filam books in the US.
When PAWW dissolved in 1998, founding
member Cecilia Brainard arranged to take over PAWWA’s work under the name of
PALH (Philippine American Literary House).
Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is herself a writer and editor whose books have been published by Dutton Penguin, the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House and more.
Erotic and Tragic Novel written in the fragmentary style
When the young woman Juana becomes pregnant, she decides to tell the tragic love story of her mother who died during childbirth, and her American father who is a prisoner of war in Vietnam. But soon, her grandmother and other women in her family come to her in dreams and thoughts, demanding to have their stories written, to have their secrets revealed.
“Expertly written by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard … Magdalena is set in the chaotic backdrop of twentieth century East Asia. A romantic, powerful tale of three generations of Filipino women, written with a close eye on the terrors of war and the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II, Magdalena is an intense, involving, highly recommended saga that documents author Cecilia Manguerra Brainard as a gifted author with a mastery of storytelling that will keep the reader’s total attention and engagement from first page to last!” ~Midwest Review
Author: Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
ISBN: 978–971-506–801‑7 (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House)
ISBN: 978–1‑953716–11‑8 (PALH)
For rights inquiries, please contact Senja Pozar at senja.pozar@ljubljana-literary.agency. Rights sold to Greece.
A literary mystery set in the Philippines in 1909
Finalist for the 37th National Book Award
Shortlisted for the Inaugural Cirilo F. Bautista Prize
When a murdered priest is discovered in a creek, the son of Ines is picked up as a suspect and jailed. Ines, newly-widowed and is still grieving, and who is also trying to keep his newspaper business afloat, decides she has to find the real murderer so her son will be freed. She and her friend a French seamstress set out to investigate the crime.
“What follows is part detective story and part historical fiction, set in the Philippines seven years after the conclusion of the Philippine-American War (1899–1902) that cemented U.S. occupation of the islands. The mystery elements are competently plotted, and the characters appealing, and there’s a charming long-distance romance, with a hint of another yet to come. The book’s signal virtue, though, is its bighearted look at Filipino culture and society in 1909.” ~ David Keymer, Library Journal
Author: Cecilia Manguerrra Brainard
ISBN: 978–971-506–811‑6 (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House). Rights sold to Serbia.
ISBN: 078–1‑053716–14‑9 (PALH)
For rights inquiries, please contact Senja Pozar at senja.pozar@ljubljana-literary.agency
SELECTED SHORT STORIES BY CECILIA MANGUERRA BRAINARD
Winner 40th National Book Award and Cirilo Bautista Prize
Finalist Gintong Aklat Award
“Cecilia Manguerra Brainard’s (39) short stories cover not just the history of the Philippines – Spanish and American colonial rule, the bloody Marcos era, the high price of fighting for political and economic freedom – but also the deeply moving hesitations and complexities of the human heart: the loves and longings and losses that shape and haunt a life, the sensuality and desires that rip apart the fabric of social life, the intricacies of girlhood and female friendship, the confrontation of cultures, the loneliness and courage of Filipino-Americans and others who have left their homelands and the idea of home. Beautifully written, masterfully crafted, these stories are at once heart-breaking, entertaining, and profoundly humane — very difficult to put down, impossible to forget.” ~ Reine Arcache Melvin, Novelist
Author: Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
ISBN: 978–971-506‑8710 (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House)
ISBN: 978–1‑954716–01‑9 (PALH)
For rights inquiries, please contact Senja Pozar at senja.pozar@ljubljana-literary.agency
WHEN THE RAINBOW GODDESS WEPT
A Classic in Pacific War and Philippine Literatures
When World War II breaks out in the Philippines, the nine-year old girl Yvonne has to leave her city home with her parents to hide in the mountains of Mindanao. There she becomes a witness to wartime horrors. Her father is an American-trained engineer who is part of the guerrilla movement. Her mother, who is used to comfort and city-life, is totally unfit for harsh jungle/mountain life. Living under harsh conditions, Yvonne’s only comfort are the ancient Philippine epics that the family cook tells her. Will this sustain her for the duration of this bloody and horrific war?
“Cecilia Brainard’s debut novel is the tearful, seldom-told story of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines during World War II as seen through the eyes of a young Filipino girl. The many hardships that 9‑year-old Yvonne Macaraig and her family are faced with teach her the value of hope and endurance…Brainard’s wonderful novel shows how war brings out the best and the worst in people as it describes both the atrocities and the heroics that befall her characters. The novel’s theme, the vast cost of war on the human spirit is illustrated well by Yvonne’s tragic loss of innocence. In the words of her grandfather, Lolo Peping: “Before man sinned, he was innocent. Man’s original sin wasn’t eating the forbidden fruit; it was Cain’s murder of his brother.” ~ Associated Press
Author: Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
ISBN: 978–971-506–842‑0 (University of Santo Tomas Publishing House)
ISBN: 978–0‑472–08637‑5 9 (University of Michigan Press – Ann Arbor)
For rights inquiries, please contact Senja Pozar at senja.pozar@ljubljana-literary.agency
A RIVER, ONE
WOMAN-DEEP: STORIES
Winner of the SEA Write and other Awards, Filipina writer Linda
Ty-Casper, who is noted for her Philippine historical fiction presents this collection
that includes her novella of the same title.
Her novella is set during the tumultuous Estrada years from 1998
to 2001. Her other stories are about Filipino and Filipino-American women.
ISBN: 9780971945852 (PALH); also published by the UST Publishing
House
All rights available except Philippine print rights. Contact palhbooks@gmail.com
WILL YOU HAPPEN, PAST
THE SILENCE, THROUGH THE DARK?
Award-winning Filipino novelist Linda Ty-Casper collects the
letters to and from her late husband 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.
Editor: Linda Ty-Casper
ISBN: 9781953716200
(PALH); also published by the Ateneo Press
All rights available except for Philippine print rights. Contact palhbooks@gmail.com
BENEDICTA TAKES WING
AND OTHER STORIES, is Veronica Montes’s debut collection of short fiction explores
the intricate workings of Filipino families as they struggle to define their
place in the world.
"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.
Author: Veronica Montes
ISBN: 9780971945876 (PALH); also published by the UST publishing
house
All rights available except for Philippines rights Contact palhbooks@gmail.com
Tags: Frankfurt Buchmesse 2024, Frankfurt Book Fair, Philippine Books at Frankfurt, Filipino literature at Frankfurt
Main Page
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
Please, San Antonio! & Melisande in Paris by Eve La Salle Caram and Cecilia Brainard
A River, One-Woman Deep: Stories by Linda Ty-Casper