Cecilia Manguerra Brainard - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is a Filipina author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

of fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

based in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, U.S.A.. She was born in Cebu

Cebu City

The City of Cebu is the capital city of Cebu and is the second largest city in the Philippines, the second most significant metropolitan centre in the Philippines and known as the oldest settlement established by the Spaniards in the country.The city is located on the eastern shore of Cebu and was...

, Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, attended St. Theresa's College in Cebu and in San Marcelino, Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

. She also went to Maryknoll College (now Miriam College

Miriam College

Miriam College is a non-stock, non-profit Filipino Catholic educational institution for girls and young women in Quezon City, Philippines. It offers academic programs from pre-elementary to post-graduate and adult education levels that develop the learning and caring competencies of students and...

) in Quezon City

Quezon City

Quezon City is the former capital and the most populous city in the Philippines. Located on the island of Luzon, Quezon City is one of the cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila, the National Capital Region. The city was named after Manuel L...

from 1964 to 1968, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Arts. She did graduate work in film making at UCLA in 1969.
Brainard's works include the internationally acclaimed novel, When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, Woman with Horns and Other Stories and Philippine Woman in America. She is the editor of the anthology Fiction by Filipinos in America and teaches creative writing

Creative writing

Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...

at the Writers' Program of UCLA Extension.

Biography

She was born in 1947 and grew up with her influential family in Cebu City, on the Island of Cebu, Philippines. Cebu appears in her short stories and novel as Ubec (Cebu spelled backwards). Her idyllic childhood is associated with her father, an engineer who was already in his fifties when she was born. Brainard was the youngest of four children. Her father died when she was nine. To cope with the loss of the father figure, she started writing journals at the age of nine. Her writing eventually evolved into essays, then short stories, then novels.

She is the author and editor of over a dozen books, 250 published essays and four-dozen stories. From 1968 to 1981, she worked in the area of communications as a documentary scriptwriter, fundraiser and as an assistant director for a non-profit organization that included responsibilities in public relations and development. Since 1981, she has worked as a freelance writer. She has taught in the Animation Department at the University of Southern California. She teaches creative writing at the UCLA-Extension Writers’ Program. She once wrote a bi-monthly column, Filipina American Perspective for the Philippine American News, a newspaper in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1988. She was a founding member and past officer of Philippine American Women Writers and Artists

Philippine American Women Writers and Artists

PAWWA or Philippine American Women Writers and Artists was founded in 1991 by a group of seven Filipina writers in Southern California. Aside from supporting one another, the group wanted to help other Filipina writers and artists, as well as to provide community service...

(PAWWA). She is a member of PEN

International PEN

PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....

America.

As an author, editor, and teacher, Brainard is like the epic storyteller, Yvonne, in her internationally acclaimed novel, When the Rainbow Goddess Wept. She promotes Filipino-American writers and Filipino-American literature so that other readers may learn, recover and remember. Her works can be found in periodicals such as Focus Philippines, Philippine Graphic, Mr. and Mrs. Magazine, Katipunan
Katipunan
The Katipunan was a Philippine revolutionary society founded by anti-Spanish Filipinos in Manila in 1892, whose primary aim was to gain independence from Spain through revolution. The society was initiated by Filipino patriots Andrés Bonifacio, Teodoro Plata, Ladislao Diwa, and others on the night...

, Amerasia Journal, Bamboo Ridge and The California Examiner among many others. Her stories have been anthologized in the pages of Making Waves (1989), Forbidden Fruit (1992), Songs of Ourselves (1994), On a Bed of Rice (1995), "Pinay: Autobiographical Narratives by Women Writers, 1926-1998" (Ateneo 2000), "Asian American Literature" (Glencoe McGraw-Hill 2001) and many others.

Brainard immigrated to America in 1968 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1972. She eventually married Lauren Brainard, whom she had met in the Philippines when he was serving in the U.S. Peace Corps

Peace Corps

The Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...

. The couple settled in Santa Monica

Santa Mônica

Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...

, California where they have three sons namely Christopher, Alexander, and Andrew.

Her Novels and Short Story Collections

Acapulco at Sunset and other Stories (short story collection, Anvil, 1995)
Angelica's Daughters, a Dugtungan Novel (a collaborative novel co-authored by Brainard, Cuizon, Evangelista, Montes, and Sarreal, Anvil, 2010)
"Gokkusagi Tanricasi Agladginda" (Turkish edition of "When the Rainbow Goddess Wept" Bilge Kultur Sanat, translated by Fusun Talay, 2001)
Magdalena (novel, Plain View Press, 2002)
Vigan and other Stories (short story collection, Anvil, 2010, forthcoming)
When the Rainbow Goddess Wept (novel, Dutton, 1994), which first appeared as Song of Yvonne, (New Day Publishers, 1991) (Plume paperback, 1995), (University of Michigan Press, 1999)
Woman With Horns
Woman With Horns
Woman With Horns is a short story written by Filipino writer Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. The story is about a doctor from New York named Dr. Gerald McAllister and his journey at Ubec as he encountered an Ubecan widow named Agustina Macaraig who is rumored to have horns when he was an infant and is...

and Other Stories (short story collection, New Day Publishers, 1988)

Her works as editor of short story collections

Ala Carte Food and Fiction (Edited by Brainard and Orosa, Anvil, 2007)
Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America (Anvil, 1998)
Fiction by Filipinos in America (New Day, 1993)
Growing Up Filipino: Stories for Young Adults (PALH & Anvil, 2003)
Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults (PALH, 2010)
Seven Stories from Seven Sisters: A Collection of Philippine Folktales (Co-editor, PAWWA, 1992)
The Beginning and Other Asian Folktales (Co-editor, PAWWA, 1995)

Her essays and non-fiction collections

Finding God: True Stories of Spiritual Encounters" (Edited by Brainard and Orosa, Anvil, 2009)

Fundamentals of Creative Writing" (Anvil, 2009)
Behind the Walls: Life of Convent Girls" (Edited by Brainard and Orosa, Anvil, 2005)

Cecilia's Diary: 1962-1969 (memoir, Anvil, 2003)

Journey of 100 Years: Reflections on the Centennial of Philippine Independence (Edited by Brainard and Litton, Anvil, PAWWA, 1999)
Philippine Woman in America (New Day Publishers, 1991)

Her awards

Gintong Aklat Award (Golden Book Award), for Finding God: True Stories of Spiritual Encounters (coedited with Marily Y. Orosa) (2009)
Gourmand Award, for Ala Carte Food & Fiction (coedited with Marily Y. Orosa) (2008)
Certificate of Recognition from the Cebu Provincial Government (2006)
Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District (2001)
Filipinas Magazine Achievement Award for Arts and Culture (2001)
California State Summer School for the Arts Award (2000)
Outstanding Individual Award from the City of Cebu, Philippines (1997)
USIS Travel Lecture Grants (1995 & 1997))
Makati Rotarian Award (1994)
Literature Award, Filipino Women's Network (1992)
City of Los Angeles Certificate of Appreciation (1992)
Brody Arts Fund Fellowship (1991)
Special Recognition Award, Los Angeles Board of Education (1991)
City of Los Angeles Cultural Grant (1990–91)
California Arts Council Artists' Fellowship in Fiction (1989–90)
Honorable Mention Award of the Philippine Arts, Letters, and Media Council (PALM) for Welcome to America (1989)
Recognition Award, National Citizen Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) (1987)
Fortner Prize, for the story The Balete Tree (1985)

External links and other sources

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