Local author to read/sign her debut literary historical novel

||| FROM VICTORIA GRAGEDA-SMITH |||

In celebration of Filipino American National History Month, I will be reading and signing my debut literary historical novel, The Thomasite, published and released by Orange Blossom Publishing last May 30, featured among the selected debut novelists’ works during this year’s Orcas Island Lit Fest.

This event will be held at:

Darvill’s Bookstore

Saturday, October 7. 2023

5:30 -6:30 p.m.

At this event, I hope to engage our local community and visiting guests about a little known or forgotten piece of U.S. colonial history set at the turn of the 20th century on the Philippine Islands: the history of the more than 500 American teachers who answered the call of President McKinley to go and teach in the new U.S. territory in the Pacific.

What better way to celebrate the shared history of the U.S. and my native country, the Philippines, during Filipino American National History Month, right?

For your convenience and information, following below are more about me and my book:

Author Bio:

Victoria Grageda-Smith is a first-generation Filipino US immigrant and lawyer turned award-winning American author published in all creative writing genres (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry).

Her debut literary historical novel, THE THOMASITE, was released by Orange Blossom Publishing on May 30, 2023. She’s also the author of the Driftless Unsolicited Novella Award-winning FAITH HEALER (Brain Mill Press, 2016). Her short story, Portrait of the Other Lady, won first place in the Fifth Annual Ventura County-Ventura County Star national short story contest and was published (Ventura County Star, November 28, 2004). She’s the author of a new story collection manuscript, DAUGHTERS OF THE BAMBOO, on publishing track for 2024.

The anthology, OTHERS WILL ENTER THE GATES: IMMIGRANT POETS ON POETRY, INFLUENCES, AND WRITING IN AMERICA (Black Lawrence Press, 2015), includes her essay, “Gatekeepers and Gatecrashers in Contemporary American Poetry: Reflections of a Filipino Immigrant Poet in the United States.”

She’s also the author of the Kirkus-acclaimed poetry collection, WARRIOR HEART, PILGRIM SOUL: AN IMMIGRANT’S JOURNEY (Amazon, 2013). Her poetry is recognized with distinction by the Crosswinds Poetry Journal International Contest, New Millennium Poetry Awards, Knightville Poetry Contest, and Edwin Markham Poetry Award. Her poems appear in, among others, Slippery Elm Journal, Reed Magazine, Lyrical Iowa, Crosswinds Poetry Journal, and New Millennium Writings.

When Victoria isn’t writing, she likes to read or walk in the woods and on the beach with her husband, children, and dogs at their home on Orcas Island.

Follow her on VictoriaGSmith.com, Facebook Author Victoria G. Smith, Twitter @AuthorVGSmith, and Instagram victoriagsmithauthor.

About The Thomasite:

In 1901, during the Philippine-American War, a young American teacher, Eleanor Karsten, sails on the U. S. Army Transport Thomas to the Philippine Islands with more than 500 other US educators in response to President McKinley’s call to teach Filipino children and help establish a public school system in the new US territory. A stopover in the Hawaii Islands and a brief stay in Manila awaken her to the implications of America’s new expansionist policy.

When she arrives at her designated school area, various challenges—including malaria, a cholera epidemic, war, and racial, class, and religious tensions—test her resolve to fulfill her mission. Her loyalties are likewise tested when she becomes romantically entangled with a native man whom she suspects could be the local leader of the insurrection.

Her journey takes her through love and loss of mythic proportions as she witnesses the human ramifications of America’s policy of ‘benevolent assimilation of Filipinos,’ wherein she finds herself the student rather than the teacher.