The author and urban planner Eleanor Guerrero-Campbell discusses her novel on the immigrant experience, Stumbling Through Paradise: A Feast of Mercy for Manuel del Mundo (Friesen Press, 2016), the Filipino-Canadian diaspora, and more, with Joseph Planta.

Stumbling Through Paradise: A Feast of Mercy for Manuel del Mundo by Eleanor Guerrero-Campbell (Friesen Press, 2016). The book is available through Eleanor’s website: www.eleanorguerrerocampbell.com, or at Tanglewood Books. Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Stumbling Through Paradise

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

The book is called Stumbling Through Paradise: A Feast of Mercy for Manuel del Mundo. It’s the first novel from the writer, activist, and former urban planner Eleanor Guerrero-Campbell, who joins me now. In the book, set in Canada, the del Mundo family emigrates from the Philippines to find a better life. Their arrival from Canada is far from idyllic. They seek paradise but find challenges along the way. What this book does is shed some light onto the travails that immigrants face, the burden on parents and the children, and the loneliness and isolation that often comes with trying to make a go of life in a new place. Very often immigrants, and certainly not just from The Philippines, are skilled and under employed. The book is also a marvellous view onto the Philippines, Filipinos, and Filipino-Canadians, who going into second and third generations now have made their contributions to Canadian life. I’ll get Ms. Guerrero-Campbell to tell us about her book, these characters we meet, the themes therein, and the process of writing this book now, after a distinguished career in urban planning in the Philippines, the cities of Edmonton, Alberta, and Surrey, and Richmond, British Columbia. As a community leader, Eleanor co-convenes the City of Vancouver’s Immigrant Partnership Program Access to Services Committee. She also co-founded the Multicultural Helping House Society, and was the director of the Looking Ahead Initiative. She was also CEO of the Minerva Foundation. The website for more is at www.eleanorguerrerocampbell.com. The book is published by Friesen Press. It’s a great achievement. Having Filipino parents, and having grown up here in Vancouver, I read the book with great interest. The book elegantly depicts people and situations that are familiar to someone who grew up a Filipino-Canadian. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, in person today, Eleanor Guerrero-Campbell; Ms. Guerrero-Campbell, good morning.

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