As part of Filbookfest, PAWA is hosting “The Manong Generation,” a virtual reading and discussion among four Filipino American authors including Eileen R. Tabios and Oscar Penaranda, on Saturday 9/21 at 5pm PT. Register to join.
Advance words from Aileen Cassinetto, Paloma Press publisher & Filipino American International Book Festival Advisory Committee member:
On The Balikbayan Artist by Eileen R. Tabios (Penguin Random House SEA, October 2024)
A daughter of the diaspora, Eileen R. Tabios has redefined the word ‘Balikbayan’ to signify existential longing and fortitude. Her gift as a writer is that she allows us space to perceive a myriad of human experiences: desire, loathing, horror, outrage, grief, love. It is this universality that awakens us—to counsel us, Always, always: discern with compassion.
On Follower of the Seasons by Oscar Peñaranda (Eastwind Books of Berkeley, November 2023)
One of the most important figures that defined a generation and movement, Oscar Peñaranda has produced a body of work that chronicles the labors and leavings of Filipino and Asian American lives. Capacious in scope and intentionality, this long awaited new collection of poems and prose — with its motley crew of balikbayans, tourists, sex workers, drummers, bums, the unhoused, the unnoticed noticers, and the manongs — illuminates the many ways in which our lives bear upon each other. Peñaranda weaves through time and landscapes with nuanced characters, exploring interiors, vernaculars, memory, and shared history, to bring us closer to kapwa: “Pakiramdam yan. Kutuban. To feel unspoken clues is one of the first things we learn to learn.” Perhaps the most indelible image is the birdman of the I-Hotel whom the narrator observes with such insight and tenderness: “Come by later/ And take these crumbs/ And put them in one of your bags/ For your morning walks,/ Manong.” Seamed with grit and grace, this book is more than an essential collection. It’s what we are to each other, and all the ways we have become a country and community in diaspora.
