Book Launch and Lunches

Amirasolo and Other Essays

Part 2. My Trip Around the Art World

Essay 22 . BOOK LAUNCH AND LUNCHES

I did the Illustrations for Reni Roxas and Marc Singer's collaborative book "First Around the Globe: The Story of Enrique" in 1997. I was again hired by them the following year to do the Illustrations for "The Brothers Wu and the Good-Luck Eel". This was a singular story because it won for its author Fran Ng the first prize in the 1998 Palanca Memorial Awards for Children's Literature. In addition to that, the published book was also a National Book Award winner in 2001.

I felt long before it won in the Palanca that the story was special. I felt compelled therefore to come up with illustrations that would match the story's excellence. Which I did I guess,  because the supposed excellence of my illustrations for this book landed me in the Honour List of the 2002 IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People).

This tale is a true to life story of the ancestors of Tisa Roxas-Tan's husband. (Tisa is the sister of Tahanan Books publisher Reni Roxas.) I prepared long and hard before starting doing the illustrations. Because the story really  happened during the late 1800s, I did a lot of research, for authenticity, on costumes and end-of-the century sceneries both at the National Library and at the Filipinas Heritage Library.

I also used real people as models for some of the characters in the story. Fran Ng provided me with a photo of her grandmother which I used as reference for the grandmother-narrator character. The brothers Wu's facial features I copied from those of my sons Bahgee and Kai. I also used photos of my wife Carina and compadre Bert Falsis as references for two other characters.

I completed the fifteen illustrations for the Brothers Wu in five months, which was rather fast compared to the time it took me to complete my next job, the eleven illustrations for the book "Once Upon a Time", which kept me busy for more than a year.

Today, twenty years after it was launched, my affection for the book "The Brothers Wu and the Good-Luck Eel" hasn't dimmed one bit. It still is very special to me. Because aside from winning awards and honor both here and abroad, it also afforded me the chance to have a fleeting taste of the good life that is an everyday thing for the rich.

Reni Roxas hosted two publisher's lunches in 1999 to promote the books about to be launched by Tahanan, first at the Manila Polo Club and then at the Krocodile Grille. That was for free, of course. And I---who was born and raised in Tondo, and who once considered eating out at Chinese Restaurants in Binondo and Sta. Cruz as the height of fine dining---imagined that I have climbed up a rung or two on the social ladder.

The book launch and book signing was again held at the Manila Polo Club, that posh events place of the old rich in Forbes Park. I managed to sell there 13 of the 15 illustrations I did for the book. Among the notable persons who bought my pieces were Reni Roxas, publisher of Tahanan Books for Young Readers, Marixi Rufino-Prieto, Chairman of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Dr. Manolet Delfin and wife Mari Tan, publisher of Bookmark, and Tisa Roxas-Tan.

It was the first time I sold that many artworks in one go. I felt triumphant. So, I went home  that night feeling already famous and rich. But that was just a fleeting sensation of course. Because money, like time, really flies away fast. How about the fame? Well, it flew away faster. I was truly a celebrity, with all that autographing of sold books, for just about three hours.

- 2020

#booklaunchandlunches
#booklaunch