Slicing Tomatoes

Pub. date: July 28, 2023
Querencia Press | ISBN: 978-1-95911-848-0 | 260 pages

The Beginning of Leaving is now available.
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You can also request it at your local bookstore or local library.

For signed author copies, please visit the SHOP.

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A lyrical collection of essays where the concept of leaving is not simply a finite act but a process of resistance, reconciliation, and release.

AWARDS & HONORS for The Beginning of Leaving

PUSHCART PRIZE NOMINATION: “One Hundred and Eighty Eggs,” stand-alone excerpt, 2023

PRAISE for The Beginning of Leaving

“There are many powerful moments in this book, embodied in the author’s writing-to-understand how the colonial encounter is passed on through generations in our bodily experience; how trauma is dealt with—through suppression or empathy, projection onto others, or via exploration and the curiosity-driven work of writing. Just as powerful are the processes of healing, which I think these essays represent.

“The Beginning of Leaving should be considered an invitation for you to explore your own departures and arrivals, family and ancestral histories—not just the stories that you have been told, but the silences, which are also speaking.”
— from the Foreword by Jean Vengua, author of Marcelina, Prau, The Aching Vicinities, and Corporeal

“‘I cannot see the beginning nor the end of where we are heading,’ writes Valmidiano. And yet she guides us with a sure hand through a fascinating exploration of family, body, and memory, showing us along the way that the connections we make between the disparate locations and circumstances of our individual lives can bring us closer to the collective, closer to belonging, closer to the idea of home.”
— Veronica Montes, author of The Conquered Sits at the Bus Stop, Waiting and Benedicta Takes Wing

“There is a reason that the first books of writers, from James Joyce (whose book Dubliners, captures the city he self-exiled himself from) to Sandra Cisneros (whose book The House on Mango Street, details parts of her hometown of Chicago) to Isabel Quintero (who writes in Gabi, a Girl in Pieces of a fictional town in the Inland Empire that looks much like Corona, California), focus on their hometowns. I think that is because ‘home’ is a magical place filled with nostalgia and brimming with memories, both sweet and bittersweet and even at times, traumatic.

“This book is ultimately more than just a collection of pieces, it is also a naming and a reframing of home and culture. The Beginning of Leaving is simply a celebration of everything one has loved, lost and left. Much like the life I have lived, Valmidiano has lost and persevered and found a way to make it all worthwhile via her creativity and art. In the end, I realized that Valmidiano was not only taking me home, she was taking me on a journey and I was willing to follow her wherever she is willing to take me. As Valmidiano tells at the end of her beautiful book, ‘And when it comes to leaving, we have to start somewhere.’”
— Women Who Submit, reviewed by Juanita E. Mantz, author of Tales of an Inland Empire Girl and Portrait of a Deputy Public Defender, or how I became a punk rock lawyer

Via Justine De Fant “The Beginning of Leaving is a mosaic of non-fiction essays and poetry that explore the multi-layered experiences of the Filipino people: the transgenerational trauma of war, resistance, religion and migration; the internal conflicts between immigrant parents and their children; the confronting loss of stories buried deep within the bodies of grandparents long gone; the beauty and pain of womanhood, the body and the Western world; and the continual yearning for the homeland.

“This collection manages to be all that and more. It is both a confession and acceptance of the author’s painful and formative past, and a love letter to a hopeful future.

“Like many of us in the diaspora also ‘scrounging for pieces of our heritage,’ TBOL encapsulates emotions all too familiar: displacement, nostalgia, longing, loss and pride from where we came from. These themes ebb and flow within the narrative with intention, allowing readers to feel the full breadth of their experience without drowning in them.”
— Pacific Daily News, reviewed by Via Justine De Fant, poet, Publicist and Community Outreach Coordinator at University of Guam Press

Morgan Hoffman

“The Beginning of Leaving pays homage to the game of telephone our Philippine ancestors played when they told stories by the fire at night, or while they kept the bedside of a deceased loved one, or while they waded through rice paddies in the hot sun. Each telling of a familiar story promised something different and new. Our ancestors recognized that stories were living beings and they summoned them to aid us in our self-understanding. Valmidiano uses this technique in her collection to dive into the contexts of what it means to be a Diasporic people on settled lands . . . .

“The medicine here, should Filipino Americans be willing to take it, comes as an invitation to ask bigger questions about what it means to be a Filipino in the Diaspora. Whether we are born in the motherland and carried away, haven’t yet set foot there, or only have one Filipino parent—our contexts affect our existence and the way we fit within our people.”
— The Halo-Halo Review, reviewed by Morgan Hoffman, poet

Noreen Ocampo “For me, reading this collection was often like peering into a mirror, which is intimidating and scary—but healing, generative, and important. There are few other writers with whom I would find sharing this experience—or rather, these experiences—so powerful, and even fewer whom I would trust as much as Valmidiano to take me through this journey. Each time I encounter and return to her work, I feel seen in new ways and find myself changed. The Beginning of Leaving is no different; it is a collection of work that makes you turn inward and acknowledge all that you have persisted through, one that inspires you to come to the page and write—and be gentle with yourself as you do.”
— Marías at Sampaguitas, reviewed by Noreen Ocampo, author of Not Flowers

Nayt Rundquist “Through the course of this collection, Valmidiano masterfully, lyrically shows readers that we are all connected. That bonds can be reforged across generations, across peoples, across personal traumas. Even in a world that can feel so divided by hate and fear, there are beautiful stories of families and creation, perfectly serene moments on the water, simple moments connecting with siblings and cousins and nieces that prove we are connected. Valmidiano’s writing does not flinch away from atrocities or trauma, and as such comes with trigger warnings, but the deftness and beauty of her pen showcases the wonder and connection that can be found in this world and in each other—if we pay attention.”
— Tiny Spoon, reviewed by Nayt Rundquist, publisher, educator, writer, and editor of UNBOUND: Composing Home

ele d “The Beginning of Leaving teaches us that leaving is not always a choice we can make for ourselves. At its core, leaving is a choice that should be devoid of moral assignment and is more than the physical act of leaving a place, person, or situation. Leaving allows for possibility, whether it’s leaving behind generational curses or physically leaving. Leaving allows for deviation from the choices made for us by our families, our parents. Leaving also requires courage and strength. And I think we often forget that for us to find the courage and strength within ourselves, those qualities had to have existed within those who came before us. How far you want to go is ultimately up to you.”
— ele d., storyteller, excerpted from Goodreads, the complete review can be accessed here: ele d. review from Goodreads, posted June 30, 2023

Lora Arbrador

“There is so much richness in The Beginning of Leaving that I hardly know where to start. Elsa Valmidiano’s voice is so passionate and often fierce that I feel I am right inside her head feeling the intense longing, suffering, pride and creative truths. Although her work has touched many Filipino people for its celebration and evocation of the culture, I feel it also has a universal appeal to those of us who have or whose ancestors have left homelands all over the world and are still feeling the after effects of living in a diaspora. I know this is true for me. The world of Elsa’s family is fascinating and so different from mine and yet so similar and familiar in many ways. Valmidiano also bears intimate, daring portraits of her experiences of abortion, infertility and toxic workplaces, bravely challenging the pro-choice movement while not buying into the hypocrisy of the so-called ‘pro-life’ movement. I have also read Elsa’s first book We Are No Longer Babaylan and experience the same courage in her voice but resounding even more clearly in this new collection that weaves together essay, poetry and memoir.”
— Lora Arbrador, Egg Tempera artist, Amazon review, posted August 20, 2023

Andrea Guerrero “There are many reasons we have to leave, and with leaving comes great loss. But with loss there is also growth and searching—we leave not only to find better lives, but to find one another along the way. Holding this book in my hands is a ripening of these moments, evidence that we come full circle all over again.”
— Andrea Guerrero, cover artist of The Beginning of Leaving

Cover art: Nectar
11 in x 14 in
graphite on paper
2021

For her complete review on The Beginning of Leaving, please visit here. For more information about the artist, please visit Andrea Guerrero’s Featured Artist page here.

EVENTS re The Beginning of Leaving

forthcoming Life of JEM with host Juanita E. Mantz, Video Podcast Interview, April 3, 2024
HOME MADE Reading Series with Nicola Andrews, hosted by Edward Gunawan and Michelle Lin, Oakland, January 25, 2024
“Interview with Elsa Valmidiano by Edward Gunawan,” HOME MADE @ARTogether, 2024
Featured Guest Speaker hosted by Hayward-Castro Valley branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), Hayward, October 25, 2023
Launch Party with authors Dr. Adrienne Danyelle Oliver and Veronica Montes, Dek Doi Cafe, Oakland, August 12, 2023
Listen & Be Heard with Tony Robles, Station WPVM, Radio Interview, Asheville, NC, August 10, 2023

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES for The Beginning of Leaving

For information about Querencia Press and EIC Emily Perkovich, please visit here.