‘I thought Filipinos weren’t allowed in books’

MANILA, Philippines – Where are the Filipinos in books? Most of the time, the answer is, well, nowhere.

Candy Gourlay, a Filipino writer in the United Kingdom, got peeved when she saw a recent BBC poll of the greatest children’s books of all time. “If you check out the extended list of 21, only The Little Prince (French) and Pippi Longstocking (Swedish) Squeeze into the Aglo-American Monopoly of “great,” she said.

Gourlay said in her essay published in The Guardian, “Did those book experts polled by the BBC only read children’s book in wester cultures? Or was this a reflection of how little interest there is in translating books from elsewhere into English? I mean, are there really NO great children’s texts from outside Britain and America?”

Gourlay admitted that when she was growing up in Manila, most of her favorite books were “imported from the United Kingdom or America, with pink-skinned characters and tidy settings that didn’t resemble my real life in unruly Manila.” She concluded, “I simply thought that Filipinos were not allowed in books.” 

Read Gourlay’s full essay on The Guardian here.

What do you guys think? Are Filipinos underrepresented in children’s books? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @rapplerdotcom. – Rappler.com