Filipino-Canadian Book Festival

Dani Alcalde-Sidloski (she/her/they/them) is a bookseller & manager at Massy Books, a creative, and a lover of literature based in Vancouver, BC. She has worked with stories and art throughout most of her adult life in museums, libraries, the film industry, and most recently as a bookseller. Throughout all of these experiences, Dani has held the love and pride she has for Filipino culture close to her heart and has made it a priority to amplify and celebrate the works of Filipinx/a/o artists through events, book reviewing, her Instagram blog @magandabookshelf, school presentations, and through her work at the bookstore.

Nathalie De Los Santos (she/siya/they) is a writer and digital designer. She has been published in Magdaragat: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing. She created PilipinxPages, a bookstagram featuring Filipinx authors. She has appeared on CBC, LiterAsian (2020), UBC Games in Action Conference, TFC, Eagle News and other platforms. She has written for Cold Tea Collective, Kapwa Magazine, Sampaguita Press, Marias at Sampaguitas, Ricepaper Magazine and more. She is a board member of Kathara Indigenous Pilipino Society, and Odd Meridian. She is also the creator of Filipino Fairy Tales, Mythology and Folklore podcast, and is currently writing a Filipino fantasy novel.

Maria Bolaños (she/siya/they) is a Filipinx writer, author of the poetry collection SANA, co-founder of Sampaguita Press, and member of the international Filipinx writer collective, The Digital Sala. Maria’s recent cross-cultural advocacy and activism include: co-founding California-based, BIPOC-led Sampaguita Press in 2021; assisting in organizing the 6th Filipino American International Book Festival in San Francisco in 2022; and co-starting a Palestine solidarity action group in 2023 dedicated to calling for ceasefire and liberation.