Hi
#writingcommunity
! I’m Cat, a London-based queer Filipino w/ ADHD who’s currently creating CHAMPION OF THE ROSE, a manga series coming from VIZ Media, co-created by
@artominique
🌹 I write about Southeast Asian epic fantasy/action, myths, folklore, history, & light dystopia 🌿
filipinos!!! let's all!!! channel the same anger and rage!!! for BLM!!!! towards our own evil military and gov't, who are literally!!! actively, killing, raping, and abusing the poor in the middle of a PANDEMIC!!!!
went through journals i used while i was a 🇵🇭 history teacher and saw smth one of my gr6 students told me:
"teacher no matter how depressing history gets i'll always love history bc you teach it so well—you talk abt it like chismis" ☹️☹️☹️
my brother kyle has autism but it hasn't stopped him from baking and cooking for the last few years!! he's open for orders bc he's finally happy with the results 🍞🧡 i'm (1) proud ate 🤧
i graduated from the erasmus mundus international master degree of children’s literature, media, and culture from the university of glasgow, aarhus university, and universitat autonoma de barcelona with a distinction (summa cum laude/uk highest honors) yesterday! 🎓✨
CHAMPION OF THE ROSE
🇵🇭 A Spanish colonization/Philippine history-inspired
#GN
🌹 A princess fighting for independence
⚔️ A trans swordsman on a vengeance quest
👑 A deadly Tournament that will bring them together and change the empire forever
#LGBTNPit
#POC
#YA
#F
#AC
#AD
in 2019, a 🇵🇭 comfort woman memorial mysteriously disappeared (possibly taken by state forces)
i got to explain how it happened & what it says abt 🇵🇭-🇯🇵memory politics at Nottingham Trent University's
@VoicesActivism
International Conference!
i've seen way too many people (even some filipinos) claim that the Spanish Conquest was kinder to the 🇵🇭 than it was to Latin America, and that colonization wasn't "that bad", but in 1583 the bishop of manila said:
(from Henry Kamen's "Empire: How Spain Became A World Power")
don't let us-centric media make you forget that police brutality is happening right under our noses too
see: this detailed thread for near-daily reportage on the human rights violations committed by our own "law enforcement"
The government says it will exercise "human compassion" as a COVID-19 positive senator broke quarantine rules. Here's a thread of how / why Filipinos don't feel this on the ground.
First, from Manila police today: "Anyone out at the wrong time will be shot, you sons of bitches."
i wrote a whole master’s dissertation on how philippine children’s books can be used for child sexual abuse prevention in grade schools! will be presenting it at my program symposium this wednesday 🇵🇭📚✨
🚨Tomorrow🚨
We’re ready for CLMC Speaks and so are our brilliant speakers! Look at the impressive range of topics covered this year 🤩
See you there?
@IntMastCLMC
We’re thrilled to announce the newest member of the Daphne Press team! Say hello to Cat Aquino (they/she), our new Editorial Assistant.
Cat’s taste is an excellent fit for the diverse, exciting stories we’re looking to champion, and we are delighted to welcome them to the team.
same day, from a parent: "you are a breath of fresh air to my daughters...thank you for coming back to your school to teach" 😣😣😣
tbh i think i messed up a lot w the admin side things (the point that i still beat myself up for not doing better,,) but,, at least i have these,,
finally submitted my 88 page masters dissertation today! 💫
it’s all about filipino picturebooks about child sexual abuse (specifically incest & the online sexual exploitation of children) & how teachers & kids can read them in classrooms for child sexual abuse prevention 🇵🇭
my very 1st published research chapter on the double disappearance of manila's comfort woman statue is now out and citable in De-Commemoration: Removing Statues and Renaming Places” by Berghahn Books (English) and Fayard (French)! 🌺
in 2019, a 🇵🇭 comfort woman memorial mysteriously disappeared (possibly taken by state forces)
i got to explain how it happened & what it says abt 🇵🇭-🇯🇵memory politics at Nottingham Trent University's
@VoicesActivism
International Conference!
a psych prof once asked my class what we thought of calling out sexual harassers, and the first people to raise their hands said that quiet and silence are better than publicly speaking up. these first people were boys. i think this says a lot.
this is a subtweet for every atenean who defends the pnp/afp because they have relatives there and "not all military are bad". that's like saying "not all men" get your heads out of your asses
after 2 years, 7 countries, 7 universities, and 384892844929 hours spent poring over all sorts of children’s and YA media (while working on champion of the rose and trying really hard not to die!!)!! i’m graduating with distinction at the university of glasgow this december!!!!
CHAMPION OF THE ROSE will be published by
@VIZMedia
!!
Our angry, anti-colonial, fantasy YA comic inspired by Filipino/Spanish/Latinx history will be a 4-volume series from Pokémon, Naruto, & Demon Slayer’s English manga publisher!! (summer 2025 in bookstores around the world!!)
🌹⚔️CHAMPION OF THE ROSE
THE HUNGER GAMES X GAME OF THRONES X SPANISH COLONIZATION X 🇵🇭
Rey, trans swordsman, must fight in a deadly Tournament as a princess’s champion so that he can finally return to his homeland.
#DVpit
#GN
#YA
#POC
#LGBT
#F
#AC
#AD
someone on fb shared champion and said this 😳
if this manifests a show with castlevania/avatar/mappa/wit studio style animation
@artominique
and i will die on the spot 😳
We’re delighted to announce our 2022 Otherwise Fellows,
@____edwardelric
,
@jamsternazzy
and
@dntlz
! The Otherwise Fellowships honor emerging creators who are using speculative narrative to change the way we think about gender.
here are the 1st 4 pages of my graphic novel, champion of the rose! it's a YA fantasy-action-adventure comic inspired by the spanish colonization of the ph 🇵🇭✨ you can help gia and i get an agent/publisher by quote rt'ing and replying to this tweet! 🌹⚔️
🌹⚔️CHAMPION OF THE ROSE
When a princess’ hand in marriage is made the grand prize of a king’s deadly Tournament, she strikes a deal with a trans swordsman: if he fights for her to help her win her own hand, he can finally return to his homeland.
#DVpit
#YA
#POC
#LGBT
#F
#AC
#AD
I DID IT
i'm going to be an erasmus mundus international master student of children's literature, media, and culture from september 2021 to may 2023!! 🥳
BREAKING: The Vice President for the Loyola Schools announces the list of recipients of the Loyola Schools Awards for the Arts for School Year 2019-2020 via Blueboard. Congratulations to all the awardees!
A Lot happened this year (graduation, 2 writing fellowships, the lsaa, 5 publications, 1st teaching job, research gigs, & champion of the rose) so i made my own website! 🖋✨ includes champion's first 8 pages, links to my other works, & more!
2017-2018: the statue used to stand in front of the 🇯🇵 embassy. the 🇯🇵 gov't did not like this, so 🇵🇭 officials like duterte & the dep't of foreign affairs came to 🇯🇵's defense.
the city of manila removed the statue & used road construction as an excuse, but never returned it.
in case anyone's interested, he's taking orders at gluteny on facebook 🥖✨
everyone knows that i'm a picky eater so imagine my shock when i realized that his gluten-and-dairy-free food tastes good!! remy the rat could never
grad schools be like "i know a place" and send you to ielts centers to prove that u, a poc native english speaker, speak english, and change you $100+ app fees
my dds parents are laughing and celebrating ABS-CBN's shutdown in the other room. ika nga ni padme amidala, "so this is how liberty dies . . . with thunderous applause." i need to leave this fucking house as soon as i can
the missing comfort woman statue fits the pattern of 🇵🇭 sacrificing national memory & truth for 🇯🇵.
(personal note: this worries me a lot. it tells me that 🇵🇭 memory & history—including & beyond Martial Law—are at the mercy of other nations & local elites.)
NOPE back when i started champion of the rose at age 13 every single character was white and straight, and i only allowed myself to write filipino characters after graduating from high school. western publishing really brainwashed tiny cat
ok i have a big big exciting secret book deadline on oct. 17 so this is now my progress/accountability thread for finishing a graphic novel script in 17 days! 🪶✨
3 random british dudes were yelling “eww! gross!!” while i was puking on a bar floor last night but when i lifted my face to see them they did a FULL 180 & said “i love your coat!” & “get well soon!!”………i may be a disaster but i guess im an ok looking disaster…?,,
been thinking about how not having the palanca awards to aim for has helped me grow as a writer 🤔 if they were still around i'd be churning out short stories hoping to win one, and i probably wouldn't be working on champion 🤔 🤔 🤔
i met virginia woolf today! (it’s the only statue in the whole world that matches what she actually looked like, and it’s right in front of her old bloomsbury home 💚)
i really don’t know where i’d be without her. i said a quiet thank you before leaving.
i didn’t want to expect too much from my first quarantine birthday but my family surprised me with an animal crossing themed party and my friends sent a shitton of food and letters!!!! my heart and tummy are so full 🧁🍃
listen up people (ESPECIALLY filipinos): even if you know someone is LGBTQA+, DON'T OUT THEM. especially to homophobic, catholic adults. i don't care how queer they act online. their social media accounts might be their only safe spaces from the outside world.
2019: the plot thickens. tulay foundation (who commissioned the statue) & flowers4lolas (a collective of grassroots activist orgs supporting comfort women) readied to put the statue elsewhere.
until unknown men threatened/scared the sculptor & /stole/ it.
have no idea if it'll get accepted but i submitted my very filipino, very spirited away middle grade novel concept to a writing clinic today 🤧 1 small victory as i crawl out of this imposter syndrome writing slump
absolutely LIVID at how this government is using this lockdown as an opportunity to forward totalitarian moves that would've triggered physical, public protests had we all been allowed outside. LIVID.
#DefendPressFreedom
#OustDuterte
holy shit i posted an ig story about how i'm teaching my grade 5 kids about philippine revolts against spain this week and a random spanish dude (who i've never met/doesn't follow me) slid into my dms and mansplained colonization and ph history to me???
vogue ph, you may have ate that one thing… the ‘craft’ issue highlights women of filipino culture:
national scientist Dolores Ramirez, art curator Marian Pastor Roces, natl artist for dance Alice Reyes, historian Felice Prudente Sta. Maria, and culinary luminary Glenda Baretto.
We're excited to launch the Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic - the first research centre in the world to focus solely on
#fantasy
! 🌍
The centre will bring together the biggest group of academics working in this field
More 👉
@UofGFantasy
on the topic of not knowing what to say when white people say the worst things about colonization: when i showed a 🇪🇸 person champion of the rose in my very 1st week in the 🇬🇧, they held my shoulder & said: “don’t take it too personally. that colonization thingy wasn’t personal.”
visited bantayog ng mga bayani, the memorial for filipinos who fought the marcos dictatorship. the short biographies of the murdered/disappeared by marcos’s police and military fill two thick books (and one more in the making)
writing a paper on one hundred years of solitude and tearing up thinking about how much of it (families doomed to repeat the mistakes of their forefathers, the cyclicality of time) is in the philippines too. hate how most of the global south is all cursed thanks to imperialism
here's a quick rundown of our kids!!
🗡 rey is a trans swordsman on a vengeance quest
🇵🇭 teo is his pintado warrior boyfriend
🐀 santi is a trickster kid à la gavroche from les mis
👑 and rosa is a mestiza princess who longs for independence!
🌹✨ I'm excited to announce that CHAMPION OF THE ROSE, the Hunger Games- and 🇵🇭history inspired, fantasy YA graphic novel
@____edwardelric
and I have been working on, 📢 is currently on submission to publishing houses with
@agentpaloma
!!📢 ✨
#visiblewomen
#poc
#lgbt