Fated and Alyson Noel

Before I left on my Angkor Wat vacation in late July, I got to interview New York Times bestselling YA author Alyson Noel, who was in Manila to promote her latest book, Fated, with a book signing organized by National Book Store and Powerbooks.

It was a rainy night, but we paid no heed to the downpour, as we were having a sumptuous Filipino dinner at Cafe Juanita. Alyson very gamely tried out the spread of local dishes, including crispy pata, kare-kare, torta and many more, while we discussed our mutual love for Judy Blume (squee!), the Hispanic influence on Filipino culture, and of course, her books and her work as a writer.

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Cut-Price Loot!

Life seems to be passing me by in a blur all year. This morning I realized it was the last weekend of the National Book Store Cut-Price Sale (and I hadn’t shopped since the first week) hence I squeezed in a panic trip to a couple branches today.

Technically, I shouldn’t be book shopping, as I’m in the middle of packing all my books in boxes (20 boxes so far, and not even halfway through!), as the bulk of our home renovation is about to begin and my books have to go into storage. But my sister has been warning me I can’t buy any books while the renovation is ongoing so I’m currently in panic mode (because yes, how will I get through book fair?!?).

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Ready for ReaderCon?

Life has been a whirlwind since I got back from the AFCC, as preparations for the 2nd Filipino ReaderCon (Filipino ReaderCon) were in full swing. It was all hands on deck for members of the Filipino Book Bloggers group, and it has been great to see volunteers from different book clubs banding together to make this happen.

Last year, the ReaderCon was a half-day event that coincided with the Manila International Book Fair, and this year, we’ve gotten bigger. United We Read: The 2nd Filipino ReaderCon is happening tomorrow, August 18, 2012 (Saturday), 8:00am to 6:00pm at the Filipinas Heritage Library. Registration fee is Php150, and you can pre-register for the event here. This event is held in partnership with Filipinas Heritage Library (FHL) and National Book Development Board (NBDB), and sponsored by Scholastic, Lampara Books, McDonald’s, Flipreads, Anvil Publishing, Hachette Philippines, Amici Philippines, OMF Literature and Adarna House.

So I’ve been on the committee for the 1st Filipino Readers’ Choice Awards (with Tarie and Tina) and while it was a tremendous undertaking, we were overwhelmed by the response we received. Reading through the nominations, tallying up over 2500 votes, and watching the judges deliberate over the finalists has been an amazing experience. We’re finally awarding the Readers’ Choice Awards tomorrow at the ReaderCon, and we’ve definitely learned a lot to make the awards bigger and better next year.

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Alyson Noel in Manila

Just came from dinner at Cafe Juanita with YA author Alyson Noel and the lovely folks of National Book Store (and Powerbooks), who have brought her over to Manila to meet and greet her fans and talk about her latest book, Fated.

Alyson Noel is a prolific NY Times bestselling author, most famous for her Immortals series (Evermore, Blue Moon, Shadowland, Dark Flame, Night Star, and Everlasting) and Riley Bloom series (Radiance, Shimmer, Dreamland, Whisper). The multi-awarded books are translated in 37 languages and have sold over 6 million copies worldwide. Both series are optioned for movie adaptations.

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