I was working for the Filipinas Heritage Library back in 2012, when the 2nd Filipino ReaderCon (filreadercon) was held there. A literary event catering to the growing community of Filipino readers, the filreadercon features numerous talks, book discussions, an awarding ceremony for Filipino authors, and a meet-and-greet for everyone at the end of the day.
Unfortunately, I was part of the organizing committee back then, and wasn't able to attend all the talks and book discussions I wanted. Fast forward to 2013, and the filreadercon was held at a new venue: the Rizal Library at Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU).
I was excited to attend the 3rd Filipino ReaderCon with the theme What Do Readers Want? as a participant this time around. Besides being an avid reader, I also just started this book blog a few months back. Although the event was moved from November to December 7, 2013 because of a typhoon, the change in schedule didn't really bother me.
I also wanted to see the new Rizal Library for the first time because it was still under construction when I graduated in 2009.
Photo # 1: Dozens of participants listen to the talk Don't Hate Me Because I'm Popular
Photo # 2: Aly Almario (left) listens to Eros Atalia talk about his writing
Photo # 3: Wearing her wedding dress (because she's getting married soon!) Bebang Siy enjoys a laugh with Angel Bautista
I regret missing Aly's talk first because I didn't know who she was, second because she was so young (she started writing a few years ago, when she was just 13), and third because she's supposedly really good. I just checked and she has over 43,000 followers on Twitter, and 135,000 fans on Facebook. That's amazing!
The next talk I attended was The Digital Filipino Reader with book bloggers Chris Mariano, Ronald Lim, and Gilbert Tan as speakers and Gabriella Lee as facilitator. The topic for this talk was e-books versus "real books" (as Gilbert likes to call them).
Photo #1: Gabriella Lee introduces the speakers for The Digital Filipino Reader
Photo #2: Chris Mariano (left) talks about her experiences with using e-books, with Gilbert Tan beside her
Chris talked about how she loves reading e-books because an e-book reader is convenient to bring along with her during her constant travels. She mentioned how she has yet to unpack her boxes of books which she brought to her home in Aklan (I think). Nevertheless, she always brings at least one paper book when she travels and prefers to read traditional books over e-books.
Gilbert, meanwhile, believes that "real books" are vastly superior to e-books, which he thinks should have plenty more multimedia features: like interactive audio, photos, and videos, before he is convinced to try them out. Ronald, unfortunately, arrived only just in time for the question-and-answer portion of the talk.
I like how the talk provided me with insights on both sides of the topic, in addition to opinions from the audience, especially from Carljoe Javier.
The third talk I attended was titled Authors as Readers. There were two talks with this same topic happening simultaneously that afternoon, but because of a slightly embarrassing and funny non-literary reason that I don't want to divulge, I chose the talk featuring Eros Atalia and Kate Evangelista as speakers and Mina V. Esguerra as facilitator.
Photo #1: Mina V. Esguerra (left) introduces Kate Evangelista (seated), the first speaker for Authors as Readers
Photo #2: Eros Atalia talks about how his love for reading began and how his taste in reading materials developed and changed over the years
It was interesting how different Eros's and Kate's backgrounds were when it came to reading and life in general. Of course, this resulted in very different personalities and writing styles as well. It was a good mix, to say the least, and the two of them got along well during the discussion despite their differences. Mina was a good facilitator as well. She opened the Q&A portion with a few questions of her own, until several members of the audience felt confident enough to ask their own questions.
The last part of the 2013 Filipino ReaderCon which I attended was the book club discussions. I knew three of the book clubs: Flips Flipping Pages, Goodreads - The Filipino Group, and Pinoy Reads Pinoy Books; however, I decided to join RMM Book Club's discussion of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. I finished reading the book a few months back and loved it. Plus, I was going to watch the movie that evening (and it was awesome too).
Photo #1: Lots of youngsters attend the Ender's Game book discussion by the RMM Book Club
Photo #2: RMM Book Club members share their thoughts on Orson Scott Card's sci-fi classic
I was surprised when I entered and most of the participants were college and high school kids. The main discussants were also college students, and the discussion ultimately stayed on a very simple level, at least for me. I think the younger participants got a lot out of it, but I though several times about walking out like two of the other adult participants did in the middle of the discussion.
I'm not criticizing the RMM Book Club. I think they're great at what they do. Perhaps there should have been a footnote about the how young the participants would be, or something like that.
Just a special mention about the book reco fair. I think that was the most awesome part of the event. I was able to get book recommendations from all these book clubs and book bloggers. So happy Blooey Singson was part of the event. Got a lovely book pin from her (although I almost automatically had "freebie-getter's remorse" and wish and I had gotten the pencil with mustachio instead).
Photos of the book reco fair above!
Overall, I think the 2013 filreadercon was a great event, and I would love to be part of the organizing team next year.
P.S.
I also loved reading the post it notes below.
My answers to these questions:
Favorite Genre: General Fiction (a.k.a anything under the sun)
Favorite Book from a Filipino Author: Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan
What Kind of Books Would You Like to See More of from Local Authors/Publishers: Young adult literature
Favorite Author (Local or Foreign): Stephen King, Haruki Murakami, and Mina V. Esguerra...and John Green!
Unfortunately, I was part of the organizing committee back then, and wasn't able to attend all the talks and book discussions I wanted. Fast forward to 2013, and the filreadercon was held at a new venue: the Rizal Library at Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU).
I was excited to attend the 3rd Filipino ReaderCon with the theme What Do Readers Want? as a participant this time around. Besides being an avid reader, I also just started this book blog a few months back. Although the event was moved from November to December 7, 2013 because of a typhoon, the change in schedule didn't really bother me.
I also wanted to see the new Rizal Library for the first time because it was still under construction when I graduated in 2009.
Here was what happened on December 7:
(Open in new tab to enlarge.)
I arrived a bit late, but was able to catch the latter part of the panel Don't Hate Me Because I'm Popular, featuring writers Aly Almario, Eros Atalia, and Angel Bautista as panelists and Bebang Siy as facilitator.
I arrived a bit late, but was able to catch the latter part of the panel Don't Hate Me Because I'm Popular, featuring writers Aly Almario, Eros Atalia, and Angel Bautista as panelists and Bebang Siy as facilitator.
Photo # 1: Dozens of participants listen to the talk Don't Hate Me Because I'm Popular
Photo # 2: Aly Almario (left) listens to Eros Atalia talk about his writing
Photo # 3: Wearing her wedding dress (because she's getting married soon!) Bebang Siy enjoys a laugh with Angel Bautista
I regret missing Aly's talk first because I didn't know who she was, second because she was so young (she started writing a few years ago, when she was just 13), and third because she's supposedly really good. I just checked and she has over 43,000 followers on Twitter, and 135,000 fans on Facebook. That's amazing!
The next talk I attended was The Digital Filipino Reader with book bloggers Chris Mariano, Ronald Lim, and Gilbert Tan as speakers and Gabriella Lee as facilitator. The topic for this talk was e-books versus "real books" (as Gilbert likes to call them).
Photo #1: Gabriella Lee introduces the speakers for The Digital Filipino Reader
Photo #2: Chris Mariano (left) talks about her experiences with using e-books, with Gilbert Tan beside her
Chris talked about how she loves reading e-books because an e-book reader is convenient to bring along with her during her constant travels. She mentioned how she has yet to unpack her boxes of books which she brought to her home in Aklan (I think). Nevertheless, she always brings at least one paper book when she travels and prefers to read traditional books over e-books.
Gilbert, meanwhile, believes that "real books" are vastly superior to e-books, which he thinks should have plenty more multimedia features: like interactive audio, photos, and videos, before he is convinced to try them out. Ronald, unfortunately, arrived only just in time for the question-and-answer portion of the talk.
I like how the talk provided me with insights on both sides of the topic, in addition to opinions from the audience, especially from Carljoe Javier.
The third talk I attended was titled Authors as Readers. There were two talks with this same topic happening simultaneously that afternoon, but because of a slightly embarrassing and funny non-literary reason that I don't want to divulge, I chose the talk featuring Eros Atalia and Kate Evangelista as speakers and Mina V. Esguerra as facilitator.
Photo #1: Mina V. Esguerra (left) introduces Kate Evangelista (seated), the first speaker for Authors as Readers
Photo #2: Eros Atalia talks about how his love for reading began and how his taste in reading materials developed and changed over the years
It was interesting how different Eros's and Kate's backgrounds were when it came to reading and life in general. Of course, this resulted in very different personalities and writing styles as well. It was a good mix, to say the least, and the two of them got along well during the discussion despite their differences. Mina was a good facilitator as well. She opened the Q&A portion with a few questions of her own, until several members of the audience felt confident enough to ask their own questions.
The last part of the 2013 Filipino ReaderCon which I attended was the book club discussions. I knew three of the book clubs: Flips Flipping Pages, Goodreads - The Filipino Group, and Pinoy Reads Pinoy Books; however, I decided to join RMM Book Club's discussion of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. I finished reading the book a few months back and loved it. Plus, I was going to watch the movie that evening (and it was awesome too).
Photo #1: Lots of youngsters attend the Ender's Game book discussion by the RMM Book Club
Photo #2: RMM Book Club members share their thoughts on Orson Scott Card's sci-fi classic
I was surprised when I entered and most of the participants were college and high school kids. The main discussants were also college students, and the discussion ultimately stayed on a very simple level, at least for me. I think the younger participants got a lot out of it, but I though several times about walking out like two of the other adult participants did in the middle of the discussion.
I'm not criticizing the RMM Book Club. I think they're great at what they do. Perhaps there should have been a footnote about the how young the participants would be, or something like that.
Just a special mention about the book reco fair. I think that was the most awesome part of the event. I was able to get book recommendations from all these book clubs and book bloggers. So happy Blooey Singson was part of the event. Got a lovely book pin from her (although I almost automatically had "freebie-getter's remorse" and wish and I had gotten the pencil with mustachio instead).
Photos of the book reco fair above!
Overall, I think the 2013 filreadercon was a great event, and I would love to be part of the organizing team next year.
P.S.
I also loved reading the post it notes below.
My answers to these questions:
Favorite Genre: General Fiction (a.k.a anything under the sun)
Favorite Book from a Filipino Author: Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan
What Kind of Books Would You Like to See More of from Local Authors/Publishers: Young adult literature
Favorite Author (Local or Foreign): Stephen King, Haruki Murakami, and Mina V. Esguerra...and John Green!
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