A night of music and cocktails
How does one celebrate the launch of a book that once defied punishment? The perfect answer and the book’s perfect match is to hold it at the Philippine Opera House with talented singers of arias, show tunes, and OPM! This was the highlight of the night. Watch this video and let your heart melt. Location: 3657 Bautista Street , Philippine Opera Company , Makati City
Why Carmen Pedrosa Reprinted the UNTOLD STORY OF IMELDA MARCOS…
The story of why Carmen Pedrosa reprinted the Untold Story of Imelda Marcos is also remarkable. Last year, she got a call from a young book reader. His name was Orly Agawin, founder of the Book of the Month Club and Flips Flipping Pages (FFP) moderator. He got tattered copies of the Imelda books from the second-hand online bookshop Book Love Pilipinas. He read the books and fell in love with them. He then searched all bookstores in Manila for brand new copies but soon realized there were no more available copies.
“I started inquiring on Carmen Navarro Pedrosa. Is she in the Philippines? Or is she even in Manila? I even asked people if she is still with us (if you get my drift). I wondered if she has an email address where I can reach out to her and tell her how her book moved me to appreciate the democracy that our fathers and mothers fought for. As a matter of fact, I would even settle for snail mail,” Orly, with his sense of humor, said.
He finally reached her through Veronica Pedrosa, one of the author’s daughters, now a correspondent for Al Jazeera. “My mom will be thrilled!” she wrote.
Orly and Carmen Pedrosa hooked up. And Orly hooked up Carmen with Honey de Peralta of Flipside Publishing. The e-book publishing executive got intrigued by the books when Orly presented them as his best reads in the FFP Best & Worst Discussion in January this year. Honey paved the way for the books to be published as e-books and made available in Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Apple iTunes and Flipreads.
“Strange, how it is that a book has a life of its own quite apart from its author,” Pedrosa wrote in her column. “But these young men and women are of a new generation and they were reacting to the book just as the young men and women of those perilous times in the ’70s reacted to the book. That is how this new generation of readers coaxed me to reprint it and have it published as an e-book.”
Book Review
“These unputdownable books (The Untold Story and The Rise and Fall of Imelda Marcos) gripped me like cold steel for its impeccable narrative, dramatic flair and interesting subject. It was like reading a tele-serye in Primetime Bida, or Dramarama sa Hapon, and Imelda Marcos as the Bida-Kontrabida…. These books, I said to myself, should be read by every Filipino. Here is a well-written narrative of the story of a woman who was destined to succeed at the expense of a nation, and meet tragedy overnight. An amazing read!” – Orly Agawin, the reader who inspired Pedrosa to reprint the books and publish as e-books.
Who’s Who of Manila’s Influential People, from government officials and journalists to foreign ambassadors
A new breed of readers, who would scour the book stalls of Recto and urls of the net in search of a book, an author, or the truth, just like Orly did with Carmen Pedrosa. In the picture is Honey de Peralta (right of Orly) of Flipside Publishing responsible for publishing the Imelda Marcos books into e-books. Orly plans to hold a discussion about the Imelda Marcos books soon. It will be open to book clubs, bloggers, and select readers. We want to invite those who have experienced the events as recounted in the books. Date and venue to be announced. We are open to venue sponsorship offers. 🙂
Thanks to Publishing Manager Katz Navarro and Fashion Designer Yuki Sacurom for the photos.
You may also wish to read:
https://www.wheninmanila.com/what-sort-of-things-happen-in-a-book-club
The Untold Story of Imelda Marcos: Defying Punishment, Inspiring Truth
