"Living Book" Kristina de Guzman.

We are very pleased and honoured to present our first “Living Book” Kristina de Guzman.

Being Filipino while trying to challenge the status-quo

Kristina de Guzman is a Manila-born, Mill Woods-raised creator whose experiences range from community engagement to education, journalism to storytelling through art. She has worked as a freelance journalist for SEE Magazine & Vue Weekly and as a Host/Producer for CJSR FM 88.5’s Rise Up! Radio Free Edmonton. Her work has spanned the non-profit sector & the arts, including with Schizophrenia Society of Alberta, Edmonton Immigrant Services Association, Society of Alberta Occupational Therapists, Edmonton Arts Council, and ImagiNation Miscellany artist collective. Recently, she began her own digital media & communications business, M Squared Media, and is currently working with Paraiso Tropical Latin Food Market.

Welcome to LINGAP-Canada’s LIVING BOOK Project

LIVING BOOK is a webinar series featuring stories and conversations on aspects of the lives of Filipino-Canadians and families who have settled or grown up in Alberta or other parts of Canada. This Living Book Program is inspired by the Human Library movement that began in Denmark in 2000. The program enables real people, who are called “Living Books” to share interesting moments and specific themes in their life stories and experiences.  In 2018, the New Canadians Centre Peterborough (NCC) started The Living Library Project which provided a venue (a gathering, staff event, or classroom) to learn about a newcomer’s experience, coming from different cultures, sharing human stories of immigration and integration.

The stories of LINGAP’s “Living Book” seek to raise awareness of the challenges, struggles, and achievements of Filipino-Canadians and their families before they arrived in Canada and/or during their life in Canada. They will also include Filipino-Canadians and other Canadians whose social and work experiences and projects in Canada and other countries have contributed to building a more peaceful, just, and sustainable world. The “Living Books” will share life stories that will be inspiring and empowering, intended to enhance the visibility of Filipinos and their families in Canada’s multicultural society. The “Living Books” will represent diverse social, educational, and occupational backgrounds. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, this activity will be held via Zoom.

In this “Living Book” webinar, story tellers will recount/describe challenging, poignant, and memorable episodes in their lives relating to their journey to becoming members of Canadian society. “Readers” or those who will attend the webinar will then engage in a conversation with the “book” through questions and reflections.  Each story will be told by a "Living Book" in a 20-30 duration to be followed by about one hour of conversation with a small group of "readers".