Discovering their roots, sharing their heritage
PilipinxPages is celebrating its first anniversary on Philippine Independence Day. The platform recommends books primarily written in English by Filipino/a/x authors across all genres and age groups. It is based in Vancouver, BC and run by Nathalie and Tiffany.
The platform started when Nathalie was discovering her roots and learning more about her culture. Being Filipino-Canadian, she never learnt about Philippine history growing up in Canada. She started to learn about folklore, mythology and precolonial culture, which led to discovering more genres and authors in the Filipino diaspora.
PilipinxPages wants to bring awareness of the diverse writing by Filipino authors. Often, mainstream conversations do not include the writing of this community. Without discounting the existing conversations around Filipino literature, which have established symbolic ideas and generated lively debate, PilipinxPages wishes to expand these ongoing narratives by opening a dialogue into the less obvious aspects of Filipino culture as captured by the wider author diaspora.
In a Pinay Collection community post feature, Nathalie said: “I’m writing a Filipino fantasy novel, and when I first started to do the research, I wished that there was a centralized place to find information about my cultural heritage. I never was taught Filipino history, folklore or mythology in school in Canada. I also don’t look Filipino myself and didn’t grow up in the Philippines, so I felt like my interest in the culture was sort of dismissed because I “wasn’t Filipino enough” in my own community.
But Filipino mythology is super fascinating, learning about gods and monsters! And really, I think people are looking for alternate stories rather than the next Greek, Roman or Norse mythology fantasy.”
Prior to launching PilipinxPages, Nathalie had actually tried doing this book-a-day concept twice before but it didn’t take off. However, when she launched the platform in June 2020 during the pandemic, many other people were able to use PilipinxPages to connect with their roots while in isolation. During an interview with Filipino Fridays Podcast, a Chicago-based intimacy coordinator named Sheryl Williams mentioned PilipinxPages as part of her journey in discovering her roots. Nathalie and Tiff also have received messages from readers thanking them for not only the book recommendations, but other resources like a letter template you can send to your local library to request more Filipino/a/x books, and an ongoing book club featuring Filipino/a/x books. The two also review various books and conduct author interviews from time to time.
“I focused on the work that was important, which was preserving history and reconnecting with roots. When you lift other people up, you show each other the way forward,” said Nathalie.
Kiligraphy Co. has designed a new logo for PilipinxPages as they celebrate their anniversary, Filipino-Canadian Heritage Month, and Philippine Independence Day 2021. The logo features the Philippine sun, which represents the regions in the Philippines, sampaguitas, and purple is used because it is the colour of healing.
About Nathalie De Los Santos
Nathalie De Los Santos is a digital designer and videographer born and raised in Vancouver BC. She is the founder of PilipinxPages, a bookstagram of Filipino book recommendations. Her work appears in Chopsticks Alley Pinoy, Marias at Sampaguitas, Ricepaper Magazine, Gastrofork, and The Vancouver Observer. She has read as an author at the LiterAsian Festival, BIPOC Writing Community Reading Party, Freedom (W)rites: 8 Filipino Authors, and Sampaguita Perspectives: A Celebration of Filipino-Canadian Writers. She writes SFF and has completed three novels.