Author of the Month: Becky Bravo, Salanga Prize Winner 2018

Becky Bravo accepting her 1st Salanga last NCBD

Becky Bravo shares with us her thoughts on writing awards, writing about sensitive topics for kids, her favorite books and the book she wished she had written.

1. What is your belief or perception about writing awards, winning and losing in writing contests?

To someone like me who isn’t really good for anything else but writing, an award is a most welcome recognition of the quality of my work, a confirmation of my capacity to write something outstanding now and then.  Whenever I win an award, it tells me that I didn’t make a mistake in choosing to become a writer.  Whenever I lose, I can’t help but take it very badly, but it’s helpful to remember that one can’t always write the perfect story every time, and with every different set of judges comes a different set of tastes and preferences.  As soon as I get over losing, I work up the resolve to try again, and hope that I have better luck the next time.  

2.  Depression is a dominant theme in Ang Alaga Kong Bakulaw, a topic that is relevant but not so much explored in Philippine Children's Literature. How did you approach the writing of the story with a subject such as depression?

I didn’t actually intend on writing a story about depression.  It just started with me finding the word ‘bakulaw’ funny, and then the title “May Alaga Akong Bakulaw” popped into my head.  I guess you could say that I wrote the entire story around that title, and it evolved quite on its own into a story about a young man in so much in misery that he stopped taking care of himself and began to look like a cave monster to a little girl with a fertile imagination.  I am no stranger to depression, and perhaps it’s a theme that was bound sooner or later to show up in one of my stories.  Not all people who suffer from depression manifest it in the same way; in the case of Robert, he wears his misery on his sleeve.  Other people are pretty good at hiding theirs.  But if there’s anything depression sufferers all have in common, it’s the need of support and understanding, wherever and whoever it may come from.  It is a monstrous difficulty to pull through a period of depression all alone, but having people who reach out to you no matter how strange you’ve become helps you keep the sadness from swallowing you up completely.  

Becky Bravo with friends. 

3.  What are your five favorite children's books of all time?

I can’t say that these are my absolute all-time favorites because are lots of books that I haven’t read, and my preferences change depending on what sort of mood I’m in, but off the top off my head these are five books I wouldn’t mind rereading for the nth time: The Gardener by Sarah Stewart, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling (The Sorcerer’s Stone in particular), The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus, and The Happy Prince and Other Stories by Oscar Wilde.  Oops, that’s six :)

4.  What is the story, for kids or for young adults, you wish you have written?

Which story do I wish I had written?  From the six titles I gave in question number three, definitely “The Happy Prince”.  No matter how many times you’ve read it before, it always hits you straight in the heart.