DC Online

Daly City – The author and the illustrator of Lakas and The Manilatown Fish, the first-ever bilingual English-Tagalog story set in America – in San Francisco! – will be in Daly City on Wednesday, April 13, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., at the Serramonte Library Community Room.

Author Anthony D. Robles and illustrator Carl Angel, both from the Bay Area, will introduce the all-American boy of Filipino descent named Lakas, which in Tagalog means “strong,” to Daly City, home of the largest Filipino-American community in the United States.

Robles, a San Francisco native, has previously written poetry published in numerous journals and magazines, including The Asian Pacific American Journal, DisOrient Journalzine, Pinoy Poetics, and the anthology Seven-Card Stud with Seven Manangs Wild. Lakas was originally a bedtime story Robles told his own son, also named Lakas. It is his first children’s book.

Angel, who was born in Maryland, raised in Hawaii and now resides in Oakland, will talk about his colorful and lively representations of the characters. A painter and illustrator whose work has been shown in Bay Area galleries and museums, he has also contributed to the anthology Honoring Our Ancestors, and the book Mga Kuwentong Bayan: Folk Stories from the Philippines.

Autographed copies of the book will be available for purchase at $16.95. For additional information, visit the Daly City Library’s website at: www.dalycitylibrary.org or contact the Reference Services Manager at (650) 746-8303.

The event is part of the Daly City Public Library’s observance of National Library Week (April 10 to 16, 2005), as well as the Family Storytime series, which are held on Wednesday nights. It is funded by a “California Stories Uncovered” grant from the California Council for the Humanities, in partnership with the Califa Group, the California Writing Project, Heyday Books, and New California Media.