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APIBookstagram Tour Stop

#APIBookstagram Tour Stop

I actually started a #bookstagram page because I wanted to find more books by Filipino authors, and honestly meet more Filipino people outside my immediate family. During the pandemic I was sort of having an identity crisis. Am I Filipino enough? What does it mean to me to be Filipino? I remember searching the hashtag for #FilipinoBookstagrammer and the first person that popped up was @mpjustreading . I was so nervous when I first DmEd her! But of course Maria is literally the nicest. So I had nothing to worry about. Also gotta shout out Trish @read_tmc for also being one of the coolest Filipino bookstagrammers I reached out to in my early days.

My favorite part of this journey has been a chill little book club I’m a part of, with Amanda @enjoyjournaling and Amanda @nerdtasticnoms We were all searching for the same thing, a part of our Filipino identity and shaping it to be what we want it to be. We made it our mission to read books only by Filipino authors. I went from having read zero books by Filipino authors to now over a dozen. America is not the Heart and the Patron Saints of Nothing will always be special to me.

I used to think I wasn’t Filipino enough, but now I know that such a statement is damaging, and there is no such thing as “Filipino enough.” So now I can say it with all the pride I have in my heart, that I am Filipino. I am American. I am Californian. I’m a mom, a daughter, a wife, a friend, a writer, a reader, a teacher, a constant napper, a foodie but not a chef, a singer but only in the car or when I’ve had enough beers for karaoke, I’m a dreamer, and so much more that I have yet to uncover. Somewhere along the way over the past two years I have become more comfortable with naming my Filipino identity and how it feels to me, and I do have my wonderful bookstagram community to thank for that. So thank you for being here. Thank you for witnessing my journey and I hope I have made you proud.

Thanks to @booknerdkat for hosting! Please check out @atasteforreading and definitely don’t miss out on tomorrow’s posts from some of my absolute favorites @dogmombookworm @booksonmysidetable and @sparksinwords

APIBookstagram Tour Stop