Cecilia Manguerra Brainyard

Ms. Brainard is a Filipina writer based in California. She was born in Cebu, Philippines, attended
St. Theresa's College in Cebu and in San Marcelino, Manila. She went to Maryknoll College,
graduating with a degree in Communications Arts. She also did graduate work in film making at
UCLA, but somehow found her way back to writing, which has been a passion since she was a
young girl.

Ms. Brainard started writing in a diary when she was 14. The journal-writing evolved to writing
essays, then short stories, then novels. She is now the author and editor of nine books, has
published over 250 essays and three dozen stories. From 1969-81, she worked in the area of
Communications, working as a documentary scriptwriter and as an Assistant Director of
Development which included responsibilities in public relations. Since 1981, she has worked as a
free lance writer and has also been teaching in the Animation Department, University of Southern
California, and UCLA-Extension Writers’ Program.

Ms. Brainard’s published books are: Cecilia’s Diary (Anvil, forthcoming); Magdalena (Plain View
Press, 2002); Acapulco At Sunset and Other Stories (Anvil, 1995); When the Rainbow Goddess
Wept (Dutton, 1994, which first appeared as Song of Yvonne, New Day Publishers, 1991; Plume
paperback, 1995); When the Rainbow Goddess Wept (University of Michigan Press, 1999);
Philippine Woman in America (New Day Publishers, 1991); and Woman With Horns and Other
Stories (New Day Publishers, 1988). Among the books Ms. Brainard has edited are: Contemporary
Fiction by Filipinos in America (Anvil, 1998); Fiction by Filipinos in America (New Day, 1993); and
Growing Up Filipino: Stories for Young Adults (PALH & Anvil, forthcoming).

Ms. Brainard has received such awards as: a Certificate of Recognition from the California State
Senate, 21st District (2001); the Filipinas Magazine Achievement Award for Arts and Culture
(2001); the California State Summer School for the Arts Award (2000); the Outstanding Individual
Award from the City of Cebu, Philippines (1998); the Makati Rotarian Award (1994); the Literature
Award, Filipino Women's Network (1992); the City of Los Angeles Certificate of Appreciation
(1992); the Brody Arts Fund Fellowship (1991); the Special Recognition Award, Los Angeles Board
of Education (1991); the City of Los Angeles Cultural Grant (1990-91); the California Arts Council
Artists' Fellowship in Fiction (1989-90); the PALM Honorable Mention Award for story “Welcome to
America” (1989); a Recognition Award, NAMFREL (Nat'l Citizen Movement for Free Elections)
(1987); the Fortner Prize, for the story “The Balete Tree” (1985).

source http://www.asianamerican.net/bios/Brainard-Cecilia.html

The Woman with Horns

Woman With Horns is a short story written by Filipino writer Cecilia Manguerra Brainard. The story
was first published in Focus Philippines in 1984 and is part of the author's first short story
collection, Woman With Horns and Other Stories (New Day Publishers, 1987). The title refers to a
fictional character named Agustina Macaraig, an Ubecan widow, rumored to have horns.
The story is set in 1903 a year after the tumultuous Philippine-American War. America was busy
sending American administrators to their newly acquired colony in the Pacific. One of those who
went to the "Islands" and who ended up in Ubec was a New York doctor and widower, Gerald
McAllister. As the Public Health Director of Ubec, he carries on with his duties of establishing a
vaccination program to stop a cholera epidemic. His initial meeting of the beautiful and sensual
widow, Agustina Macaraig, disturbs and irritates the doctor. It is his assistant, Dr. Jaime Laurel, who
reminds him that life is more than work. It is Agustina Macaraig who eventually teaches Gerald
McAllister to love and live once more.”
The was inspired by a woman in Cebu, where Cecilia Manguerra Brainyard was born and grew up
in. The woman was rumored to have horns. When she ran into her, the older folks would whisper
that she hid her horns under her bulging hairdo.

The story stayed with her and later on, when she started experimenting with short story writing, one
of her women characters was a sexy turn-of-the century widow rumored to have horns. The short
story, "Woman With Horns" was part of her first short story collection (Woman With Horns and
Other Stories), published by New Day in 1982.