Book authors will hold in-person launches this November
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
The first ever anthology of Filpino-Canadian writers grabbed the number one spot on Amazon’s Most Wished For books in the Asian Canadian Literature category today.
Edited by Teodoro Alcuitas, C.E. Gatchalian, and Patria Rivera, who also contribute to the volume, Magdaragat: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing features more the 45 writers within its pages. They deftly explore Filipino-Canadian identities and experiences, a rich and complex past, and a future that highlights the diversity and strength of Filipino-Canadian people.
Published by Cormorant Books, it opens with the line “Magdaragat is Filipino for ‘seafarer’ or ‘mariner'”. It’s a first line that heralds the expansiveness of the collection and its ability to highlight the epic and often overlooked aspects of Filipino identity and history.
The book will be launched during two in-person events in Vancouver and Toronto in November.
Alcuitas, the publisher of Philippine Canadian News, will take part in a Question and Answer session during the launch that will be held at the Massy Arts Gallery on November 14. Another book launch will be held in Toronto’s Ben MacNally Books on November 28.
“There have been Filipino people in Canada for more than 150 years, and their essential contributions have shaped our country. Often, like many racialized groups, their achievements have been minimized and appropriated. Magdaragat is the joyful resistance to that minimizing, a celebration and full-throated cry of pride at the strength and resilience, often in the face of discrimination and stereotypes, of of Filipino-Canadians and their invaluable place in the fabric of Canadian society.
We’re sharing an excerpt from the book here today, in which the editors discuss the psychic and cultural role of the ocean in the Filipino diasporic experience and the subtle but important differences in the way Filipino people have experienced the influence of American culture vs. Canadian culture,” the book’s promo read.