Bookworm of Gensan meets Arlyn dela Cruz

A LIFETIME OF FREEDOM by Ms. Arlyn Dela Cruz will be available at the Goodwill Pavilion, September 15, 2012
SMX Convention Center, Bay Area, Pasay City

Published by Katha Publishing Co., Inc.
Distributed by: Goodwill Bookstore, Bridges Bookstore and Goodwill Bookstore the HUB

The Meeting 

The wall post above came out on August 30, 2012 in the Facebook page of Goodwill Bookstore just in time when I was finalizing my itinerary for the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF). And so on Day 2 of the MIBF I went to the Goodwill Book Store booth to look for a copy of Arlyn dela Cruz's A Lifetime of Freedom.

I asked a staff where I could find and buy a copy of it. He said: We don't carry that title here, sir.

But Goodwill and Katha published it according to the poster I saw on Facebook, I said.

No sir, Goodwill did not publish it, he answered.

I countered, how can that be? Tomorrow it will be launched here at the MIBF!

He said: I'll ask somebody about it, sir.

Somebody, presumably a supervisor, came over and when told that I was looking for Arlyn's book, he pointed to a shelf far from us containing copies of it. I told the supervisor what the staff told me and gave the staff a lecture: "If you don't know, ask. Don't give an answer to something you don't know about" and "This is an international book fair, for God's sake!"

I went to pay for my copy at the cashier's and told them I regularly visit their Davao City branch. I also related to them the  incident earlier.

On Day 3, I took the escalator to the second floor of the SMX Convention Center where the book launch was held. The entire floor was swarming with Cosplay teens in various costumes.

 Bookworm of Gensan meets The Arlyn dela Cruz. Thanks to Susan Lara for snapping this pic.

I was an early bird at the function room where the book launch was being set up, but I saw a familiar face: Susan S. Lara,  a fellow writer I met during the 50th anniversary of the National Writers Workshop at Silliman University, Dumaguete City in summer of last year and is now its director. While Susan and I were exchanging pleasantries, Arlyn dela Cruz arrived without fanfare and went straight to Susan to greet her. I introduced myself to her and she exclaimed "So you're the journalist-writer from Gensan who bought my book yesterday! The cashier downstairs told me about you." She was such a warm person that I immediately felt at ease with her.

I told Arlyn that I was also a resource person for the DepEd campus journalism program. She related to me how she started as a campus journalist in high school and competed in the National Schools Press Conference.

As I was going to meet some of my fellow Filipino Book Bloggers that day, I told Arlyn that as much as I wanted to stay for the book launch, I couldn't do so and requested her if she could sign my copy before I went to my next appointment. She graciously signed the book and told me to keep in touch on Facebook.

My copy signed by Arlyn dela Cruz