NINETEEN writers from Visayas and Mindanao on Sunday, June 11, launched in Baguio City the “Tingog Nanay: An Anthology of Motherhood,” a book depicting the lives of motherhood.
In cooperation with the Baguio Writers Group, the Libro Agustino anthology was composed of non-fiction pieces, poetry and artwork about motherhood.
The book is a multilingual anthology of motherhood stories, written in Hiligaynon, Waray, and Cebuano with English translations.
Karla Quimsing, editor of “Tingog Nanay” said the book was conceptualized in March 2016 during a get-together with her friend, Kaira Zoe Alburo Canete. Both being too busy to meet because of their motherly duties decided to create a book written by mothers like themselves.
“Motherhood is not only about birthing children and raising them. Motherhood or mothering is this indefectible feminine energy that creates and nurtures. It is the urge to tend a garden or grow an entire forest. It is the fuel in creating a career and sending siblings to school. It is especially caring for one’s own mother and father. To mother and be a mother to others and even to one’s self,” Quimsing said.
Quimsing added she endured backhanded compliments, jokes about rape and getting knocked up and raising a family as a solo parent and hoped that the anthology would change the conversation and spin motherhood as a powerful narrative.
Stories include mundane activities such as the routine of raising children and buying a stroller for a new born. The book has also themes of post partum depression and the trials of being a mother.
“You cannot say you are not complete if you are not a mother. There are many ways to be a mother, you can mother someone who is not your own blood and you can mother the world and the country. Of course you can mother the environment,” said Kei Valmoria-Bughaw, poet and one of the writers of “Tingog Nanay.”
The book launching was paired with poetry readings from the writers of the anthology.
The writers performed poems entitled that narrated the story of how hard motherhood is for struggling families and other forms of motherhood. (Louie Anne Mapa, UC Intern/SunStar Baguio)