Author Reading With Mia Manansala

It has to be a wonderful feeling when the library you once worked for now has your author reading! This is exactly what happened to Mia Mannansala on Wednesday, May 20^th, 2026, at the Forest Park Public Library.

I adored the book, “Death is in the Cards.” One of my Whitney Young High School 50^th anniversary yarn bombers was a Chicago librarian who also enjoyed her books.

Mia Manansala gave a slide lecture detailing her journey from library employee to published author. She first started with a mystery writing class from Lori Raider Day. Then she won a number of writing competitions. Her mother was a librarian and recommended JoAnn Fluke’s mystery books. Mia loved these books. However, she was concerned about the lack of ethnic representation. So, she remembered Toni Morrison’s quote where, to paraphrase, Ms. Morrison pretty much said, “Write your own novels.” So, this is what Mia did.

There were Filipino dishes for the audience to enjoy. I had her books on my iphone. Although I love the digital age, I must say I miss the good old days of having the author sign your book. I mean having books on your phone decreases bulk in the house, but I do miss having my book signed and holding a book in my hands. To make up for this emotional loss, I told Mia Manansala that I was an aspiring author and a student at Northeastern Illinois University for their teacher certification program if she would be interested in lending her editorial services to a young adult mystery novel that I was trying to write. She said she would be interested and if she could not help me, she would try to find someone who could.

This is all I could ever ask.

Congratulations to Mia Manansala! Happy Writing!