Melody as Lola Basyang

Parts 1 to 3 will follow, but first here's the 4th of 4 parts of our report! We were there last Monday March 27 at Jayme's Grill at The Fort. And there she was. A hunched over old woman - white hair tied in a bun, eyeglasses perched on her nose, wearing a white kimona and a red patadyong, clutching a crooked walking stick, and with a book in hand... why, it's Lola Basyang herself!

For a while there, storyteller Melody Remorca had everyone entranced, young and old alike. The occasion was the launch of yet another Lola Basyang book - selected and edited by Lola Basyang expert Christine Bellen, designed and illustrated by Felix Mago Miguel, and published by Tahanan Books.

Lola Basyang is actually the pen name of the late Severino Reyes, a member of the privileged ilustrado class in 19th century Philippines. According to children's author and Lola Basyang expert Christine Bellen, Reyes is the Filipino equivalent - and more - of Hans Christian Andersen. He wrote up to 500 Lola Basyang stories, and these were first printed in 1925 in Liwayway, the longest-running Tagalog magazine that Reyes himself founded and edited. Read the whole fascinating article by Nilo A. Yacat at http://www.petatheater.com/news2.htm -Beaulah in Manila

Photographs by Mark Taguiwalo licensed as follows
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/

Scarry, Spinelli, Stroud, and Lola Basyang / A Meeting of Two Worlds

Photos by Beaulah Taguiwalo. License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/

Scarry, Spinelli, Stroud, and Lola Basyang

The SCBWI Booktalk last March 13 was our first outside Makati. This time we had it in an airy place - at Starbucks, all the way up in the 5th level overlooking the 5-storey atrium of Shangrila Mall in Pasig. Nikki booktalked What Do People Do All Day! by Richard Scarry. I booktalked Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. And Zarah booktalked another of her favorite books, a thick YA fantasy novel - The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud.

Zarah's booktalk sparked an interesting discussion about books that feature magic, wizards, and witches - and how these books fare in the hands of gatekeepers like librarians. It was actually quite amazing as we had three librarians right there with us, that evening - Zarah from the grade school library of Xavier School, and Ethel and Rizchelle of Robinson's Children's Library. As Nikki said, bitin. That topic deserves a whole meeting by itself, for another day.

Having dispensed with the booktalk part, we settled down to listen to Christine Bellen's presentation about her writing, her research, and her field of expertise - Severino Reyes a.k.a. Lola Basyang. Ah, the wonders of modern technology. There we were, cozily esconed in armchairs 5 floors up in a mall, viewing on Christine's laptop some beautiful Lola Basyang visuals and reading on the screen Lola Basyang's original words as Christine recited them aloud in her lilting, effortlessly gliding Filipino, sprinkled here and there with peppery Spanish.

A surprise guest was Panch Alcaraz, one of the illustrators of Christine's ten Lola Basyang picture books. She was there especially because Christine brought along one piece of Panch's original art. It is something else to see the beautifully produced picture books, and to then to see and touch the original, exquisitely detailed art.

Before we adjourned, Christine showed us an advance copy of another of her Lola Basyang books. This one is Tahanan's compilation of Christine's selection of classic Lola Basyang stories, designed and illustrated by the now Leyte-based painter and children's book illustrator Felix Mago Miguel.

All in all, a very satisfying evening - a Booktalk and a Talk.

Beaulah's 2 Cents

A Meeting of Two Worlds

The Booktalk last Monday was very cozy. With just eight people present, we gathered round a small coffee table in Starbucks and were able to really interact with each other as we shared books and listened to our speaker, Christine Belen.

While it was unfortunate that only three of us brought books, this did not stop us from having a very lively discussion. Since there were three librarians in the group, much of the talk centered on books available for children in libraries. From here we branched out to the power of the librarian. Perhaps I should say, the importance of a librarian. These wonderful creatures could, through careful choice of books truly enrich a child's world. They can choose to strategically display a book or, sadly, they can choose to hide or censor the use of the book. This bit of the conversation could have gone on and on but being the sensible people that we were, we decided to reserve that topic for another day, when it would be tackled exclusively.

Christine spoke of Lola Basyang - their creator and the stories he created. This was of particular interest to me, Nikki of the CCP, because immediately I saw the marriage of my two worlds - literature and theater.

The writer of the Lola Basyang stories, Severino Reyes, was one of our greatest playwrights. A sarswelista, he wrote the libretto for "Walang Sugat", a wonderful musical about the revolution against Spain. Certainly one of my favorite plays. To discover that he wrote the stories which children have read and listened to for years was, well, it was to re-discover the marriage of my two worlds, theater and literature. As I said to Christine, no wonder his imagery was so vivid and his dialogue so good - theater siya!

Christine shared some of the discoveries with us, showed copies of the books published and told us how and why she revised some of the text. She spoke about how the stories had jumped from the page into television, movies and recently, theater. This launched a discussions on copyright and on the legitimacy of re-told works as a separate genre. Christine (whom we begin to believe is the re-incarnation of Lola Basyang) answered each question calmly and with great assurance.This was, after all, her masteral thesis! She had done her research and done it well.

From here, we went to suggest future Lola Basyang projects for Christine! A new movie, glossaries, etc. It was amazing to realize how much there was to do about what seemed such a simple topic!

I firmly believe we could have talked about Lola Basyang all night, but discipline, other appointments and the arrival of Christine's escort, the very talented Panch precluded that.

All in all, a very satisfying evening!

Nikki's Thoughts

Asian diaspora in kids' lit

"South Asia and the South Asian Dispora in Children's Literature" is the title of an annotated bibliography and work-in-progress.
http://www.poojamakhijani.com/sakidlit.html

Another site to check out is
http://sawnet.org/kidsbooks/

Beaulah's 2 Cents
(thanks to Chitra Soundar)

Tahanan's Lola Basyang book

Here's yet another book of Lola Basyang stories, this time published by Tahanan Books.

Tahanan Launches Long-Awaited Popular Edition of MGA KUWENTO NI LOLA BASYANG in Original Filipino

Fans of Lola Basyang stories need not wait much longer. After close to a 20-year hibernation, readers may once again read Severino Reyes’s original tales in Filipino. Tahanan Books will launch the first volume of Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang by Severino Reyes on Monday 27 March from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at Jaymi’s Grill/ Par 43 at Fort Bonifacio. The public is invited to attend.

The twelve stories in the anthology were selected by Christine S. Bellen. Ms. Bellen based her masteral thesis on the stories of Lola Basyang and received a citation from the Manila Critics Circle for her picture-book adaptations of ten Lola Basyang tales. The Book contains an introduction by Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera and is handsomely illustrated by award-winning illustrator Felix Mago Miguel.

Avid Basyang fans may once again bask in the riveting adventures spun by a tiny bespectacled old lady now fondly known by several generations as simply “Lola Basyang.” In this book you will find scorned mermaids, talking skeletons, princes cursed and transformed and other unforgettable characters inhabiting stories of adventure, humor, and romance. This is the legacy of Severino Reyes, who first published the much-beloved Lola Basyang stories in Liwayway Magazine in 1925. Using elements from both eastern and western tales, Mr. Reyes has retold and adapted close to 500 stories for Filipino readers. The author died in 1942.

Distributed by Tahahan Books and published with permission from the Severino Reyes (Lola Basyang) Publishing Corporation, Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang is available at National Bookstore, Powerbooks, and Fully Booked at a cover price of P250.

For more information, please contact Frances Ong at 818-2482 or send email to marketing@tahananbooks.com

- Beaulah's 2 Cents

Listening to Mela, NYC art agent

Photos by Mark Taguiwalo. License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/

Here are the other artists who were there, just as eager as I was to hear what Mela had to say. I've heard it many times, and read it in numerous FAQs - the do's and don'ts in preparing your portfolio. It was something else, however, to hear it again right there, from an honest to goodness artist agent. I certainly picked up more than a thing or two last March 7. And I also finally and completely understood a few things that I knew beforehand, but only in theory. "Have a distinct, signature style," for example.

Beaulah's 2 Cents

On March 7, 2006, from 5:30 to 9:30 in the evening, the SCBWI hosted a Gathering of Illustrators. Our speaker for the evening was Mela Bolinao, a Filipino American who is also a New York based illustrators’ agent with 11 years experience, specializing in children’s books. She critiqued portfolios and gave a brief talk on the art and craft of putting together a portfolio.

But this was not what the evening was solely about – at least not for me.

The evening was also about meeting new people. While the world of Philippine illustrators is small, there were a significant number of people who were new to us. And these people included graduating Fine Arts students from the University of Sto. Tomas (kids to people my age, I guess), students from the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts, members of Ang InK (an association of children's illustrators in the Philipppines), the group from the ad agency Campaigns & Grey, Dennis Rito whom we finally met... they all took the chance, plunged in and made new contacts. Pretty soon, we had little groups of people partaking of the many, many dishes from the potluck dinner, talking and talking and talking about their craft, mutual friends and everything else under the sun it seemed. I wouldn’t be surprised if a deal or two was crafted during the eating and mingling period of the evening.

Mela, lovely patient Mela, took the time to look over every single one of the portfolios, and give comments to each person. Her comments were as candid as was necessary and I am certain that a majority of the artists learned much more than a thing or two.

After the portfolios were studied and put away, we had dinner. Absolutely delicious. My stomach sends its thanks to Joel Chua for the Kangkong fritters.

Finally, Mela talked. While she had a long speech prepared, after the portfolio critique, after she had gotten a better grasp of who the artists were and what they worked on, Mela decided to partially junk her “script” and just talk about what she now new to be relavant to the present crowd. After this, she answered all the questions thrown her way.

A few announcements about forthcoming activities, and the evening was officially over.

In the end, a young man, Jordan, came up to me, Nikki, the person who rarely admits her desire to be published, the person whom he probably knows only as Beaulah’s assistant, the person (dragon) who guarded the gate and laid down the rules. He came up to me and said, “Thank you for taking care of us.”

I do not want to sound like a greeting card but this simple statement of thanks is what it is all about for me. I agreed to be an ARA because it gives me the privilege of meeting people who adore books as I do. I agreed to be an ARA because, well Jordan, because it is a pleasure to care for and to support artists and to find ways to pass on knowledge to each one and to simply interact.

So Jordan, thank You!

Nikki Garde-Torres

My Own Lola Basyang

My Own Lola Basyang

As I was thinking of the next SCBWI Booktalk and the Lola Basyang topic I realized that none of my grandmothers ever sat me on their laps to read to me. My maternal grandmother, a track and field champion in her region and an English teacher opened her library for myself and my sister but never actually read books to us. She let us explore them on our own. My great grandmother, a student of the Thomasites, likewise just kept handing us books and magazines to read. And my paternal grandparents just plied us with food and drink so we would be comfortable as we read.

My Lola Basyang, the older person who read to me in bed, on the floor, at the table was my sister, Sylvia. Sylvia is one year older than me. To help her learn to read, my mother encouraged her to read to her younger sister. And so there are photographs of us, two little girls, seated on the floor of our apartment, the older, skinnier one pointing out the words and pictures to the younger, plumper one. The first book we actually finished was "Puff The Magic Dragon." I remember it well - a big orange book with a green puff on the cover, and a red- shirted Jacky Paper riding on the dragon. To this date, I can remember every single page of that book and I can recall my sister, slowly spelling out the words and attempting to teach me to read.

To this date, my sister and I still share books. The closeness engendered by "Puff The Magic Dragon" and later, "Rhino the Rhinocerus" remains, as does the love for the books.

Nikki Garde-Torres

A gathering of illustrators

More than 40. That's the number of people we're expecting on Tuesday March 7, 2006 here in Makati, Metro Manila. It will be a gathering of illustrators, book designers, creative directors, graphic artists, photographers, and various other sorts of visual artists and children's book creators. Everyone is asked to bring his or her portfolio, and a Filipino dish for the potluck dinner.

Special guest for the evening is Mela Bolinao, an art agent based in New York City. Mela will first go over the portfolios, then give a talk that will touch on the different genres of children's literature, the artist-agent relationship, a sample contract from her agency, do's and don'ts about portfolio preparation, and how to transform your portfolio so that it will compete in the American market. The event is hosted by SCBWIphilasia, the Philippine chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Here's Mela Bolinao's webpage at her NY agency, HK Portfolio, Inc.http://www.hkportfolio.com/cgi-bin/iowa/contact.html

Beaulah's 2 Cents

Only If You Can Find Me

Only If You Can Find Me is not only Patti Laurel’s first YA novel, it is also her first book. A SCBWI member who is now based in Hawaii, Patti was born and raised in San Pablo, Laguna - a town that is less than an hour away by car from Manila. Patti’s great grandmother is Maria Rizal, the sister of Philippine national hero Dr. Jose Rizal. No wonder that Patti has had this book inside her all this time, waiting to be born. Her family history, her birthplace, family members, historical events, all of these figure in Only If You Can Find Me.

During the book launch at Powerbooks in December 2005, quite a number of real people on which Patti based her characters were there - including her niece who is the inspiration for the story’s main character Samantha Plum. Some of Patti's fellow SCBWI members were also present, such as author and book reviewer Neni Sta. Romana Cruz, YA author Lin Flores, illustrator Beaulah Taguiwalo, and Karina Bolasco, Publishing Manager of Anvil Publishing - Patti's publisher.

Beaulah's 2 Cents