Pag-Ibig: A Filipino-American Romance Panel

Happy Monday, Wormies! I finally survived the first romance panel that I moderated! Yes, there was a lot of fangirling involved!

A few months ago, I was asked by these amazing authors: Mia Hopkins, Maida Malby, Tif Marcelo, and Sarah Smith to moderate their panel at The Ripped Bodice. It was an honor to moderate this panel because all these ladies are Filipino-American authors writing about characters of color and representing the Filipino, and Filipino-American culture!

We had an amazing time talking about books, romance and Filipino & Filipino American representation in literature. I love that everyone has a different immigration story and experiences which also reflects in their writing styles.

The authors also talked about how they started writing romance and their advice for BiPOC writers, especially Filipino writers. They had really good advice!

Current Books

We also talked about their books and what’s coming up for these authors! I can’t wait to read their next books! The authors also mentioned their favorite tropes and tropes that they did not want to write. It was really interesting that each author mentioned my preferred tropes to read, too!

Tif, Maida, Sarah, and Mia also mentioned other Filipino-American & Filipino-Canadian authors to read some who also write romance and others who don’t. Because I was moderating, I wasn’t able to list them down! I’ll have to ask them again who the authors are and what books to read!

I do remember that Romanceclass was mentioned! That is a line of English language romance books written by Filipinos, mostly set in the Philippines!

This Filipino American Life Podcast also recorded an episode and interviewed Mia, Sarah, Maida, and Tif and I was able to listen in! It was a fun experience!

We also chatted about our favorite Filipino food! Mia, Sarah, Maida, and Tif can cook their fave dish!

Because it was a long day for all of us, I totally forgot to take a selfie with everyone – just Maida and Sarah! 😥  I do hope to see them soon!

I managed to take a quick photo-op right before I left with Alexis, Tracey, and Maida, my OSRBC ladies!

This is probably one of the best panels I’ve been to. Not only because I moderated it 😳 but because these ladies are my tribe and write stories about BiPOC and #ownvoices stories!

I also want to give a shout-out to my friend Crystal @ Crystal Blogs Books who braved the journey to Culver City to support Mia and me! We only had a short time to chat, though! I hope to catch up with her soon!

Have you read any of the books by these ladies?

What is your favorite panel that you’ve been to?

Do you have any bookish discussion suggestions? Please submit them here!