Sawaga River Press

12/11/2024

Our nonprofit’s crowdfunding for the printing our next three books has 10 more days to go! If you love our books and support our cause, donate to us. Your donations are tax deductible. Link below. Thank you! Please share.
Bit.ly/KapwaBooks

12/10/2024

Happy Tuesday, FB Friends and Fam!

We're still feeling the good vibes from this past weekend's Social Justice Children's Book Fair. Photos coming soon.

In the meantime, we'd like to send our heartfelt thanks to our crowdfunders! (Although the crowdfunding campaign is showing we're at 25% of our goal, we are actually halfway past our goal because many have reached out to us and chosen to contribute outside of the campaign to avoid the campaign fees.) We say this each time- we can't do this without our supporters!

Yes, our campaign is still ongoing for 12 more days and we'd still love your end-of-the-year tax-deductible contributions! Choose the route that works for you. Let us know if you have questions.

SALAMAT, Friends!

11/01/2024

Professional Development workshop collaboration between Sawaga River Press, UC Davis California History and Social Sciences Project, Davis Joint Unified School District, and YOLO Ethnic Studies Academy. Exploring how our books could be resources for Ethnic studies curriculum. So grateful for educators and academics who care about our Fil-Am history!

10/31/2024

FB Fam and Friends,

I am always grateful for the community's role in supporting the work that I and many other collaborators do as a nonprofit press (Sawaga River Press) that provides a container for our stories!

Without further words (though there are more in my heart!), I thank the crowdfunders from the first week of our campaign.

SALAMAT TUNGKAY! Maraming salamat po. Daghang salamat. It means so much to us!

Please check out our campaign, if you haven't yet. It is an evolving campaign so keep coming back to it!

The link is bit.ly/KapwaBooks

10/28/2024

Happy Monday, FB Friends and Fam!

It is a beautiful day! The pomegranates shine as they bask in the warmth of the sun. They tell me it’s a beautiful day to share our selves and allow the world to see us.

So, with the blessings of the pomegranates, I share with you our press’ crowdfunding campaign!

Friends and Fam, many of you know we at Sawaga River Press value publishing our community’s stories. We’ve come to consider it our calling. With each book we publish, we engage more of the community to publish WITH us. With you, we are creating medicine for our healing, not only in the actual books that we publish but in the way we tend to our relationships as we publish these books.

Please visit our campaign. Contribute (with or without a perk), if you can. Share widely with your friends and fam. We can do this!

DAGHANG and MARAMING SALAMAT! SALAMAT TUNGKAY!

3 beautiful multilingual picture books about our relationships with each other and the land! | Check out '3 Multilingual Picture Books About Kapwa Kinship' on Indiegogo.

10/28/2024

(7th International Filipino American Book Festival; San Francisco, CA ; October 11-13, 2024; Gala Night) We love gathering around books … and food! In fancy dresses and such.

10/28/2024

(7th International Filipino American Book Festival; San Francisco, CA ; October 11-13, 2024) We are a scrappy, young, and small nonprofit press. We know our publishing model is different from the traditional trade model. Much love and respect to writers who are published by traditional presses!

10/28/2024

(7th International Filipino American Book Festival; San Francisco, CA ; October 11-13, 2024) So many books connecting readers and writers! And a few publishers like us. What a fun and inclusive space and celebration to be part of! We’re proud to be a publisher of books that speak to the hearts of many in our community!

10/28/2024

More Lamon Fest photos to share! Thank you , everyone, for sharing the space so beautifully with our press!

10/28/2024

(Lamon Fest, San Francisco, 10/6/24) We’re so grateful to be part of this extraordinary event by Chef Yana Gilbuena and team that brought many food and arts-related entrepreneurs and enthusiasts together.

10/25/2024

An insightful article as we( River Press) evolve and navigate the nonprofit model for our press.

In the U.S., the arts are subsidized by the very wealthy and the very poor. But amid ongoing turmoil in the nonprofit world, some people are trying to build a new creative economy.

10/15/2024

Dear Fam and Friends,

I am recovering (my body feels battered!) from the truly wonderful 7th International Filipino American Book Festival over the weekend. I can’t even find the right words to describe what it meant for me. The people, the books, the energy, the love, the sunny clear skies…

I gave that weekend my all—I read my book (Mungan and Lola), facilitated a panel discussion on aligning legal practice with creative selves (Rooted in Practice, Pinays In Law reader), participated in another panel discussion on writing about belonging for young readers (Jack & Agyu), attended other writers’ panels, had breakfast (Abaca!) with a group of writers, vended our Sawaga River Press books, talked to many people about our nonprofit press and our books, fangirled it (there were so many writers whose books I've read and love!), took sooooooo many photos...

But here’s the weirdest thing! When I look at other people’s photos of the event, I find myself asking if I was even at the same event! Which panel is that? Who is that? Where was that? When did that happen? Why was I not there??? What else did I miss??? And now I have post-event FOMO!!! Is this a thing?

There’s a lesson here for me, a good one, at that. I think it’s something to do with being/doing/seeing/experiencing "enough" and being ok with it. Especially this Fil Am History Month (FAHM) when the Fil Am community tends to overload with events. I cannot experience everything and that's ok.

Also, I had a dream at the beginning of this month when I started to feel the Fil Am History Month rumble in. I don’t remember the details, but I woke up with Shakespeare’s Macbeth quote--“…full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”--rattling in my brain. I don’t believe all the FAHM sound and fury signifies nothing. But I do believe my dream was inviting me to find my meaning in all of this.

I will explore this some more. In the meantime, allow me to share a few of the photos I took at the Book Fest (and later invite you to more “sound and fury”).

Enjoy!