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Book giveaway: Phantompains by Therese Estacion

Poetry on disability, pain, grief, and life
Book giveaway: Phantompains by Therese Estacion

I love giving away books—what an utter joy and privilege. To close out this April, I am delighted to offer 8 copies of Phantompains by Therese Estacion published by Book*hug Press. From the publisher:

Therese Estacion survived a rare infection that nearly killed her, but not without losing both her legs below the knees, several fingers, and reproductive organs. Phantompains is a visceral, imaginative collection exploring disability, grief and life by interweaving stark memories with dreamlike surrealism.

Taking inspiration from Filipino horror and folk tales, Estacion incorporates some Visayan language into her work, telling stories of mermen, gnomes, and ogres that haunt childhood stories of the Philippines and, then, imaginings in her hospital room, where she spent months recovering after her operations.

Estacion says she wrote these poems out of necessity: an essential task to deal with the trauma of hospitalization and what followed. Now, they are demonstrations of the power of our imaginations to provide catharsis, preserve memory, rebel and even to find self-love.
A peep hole in the middle of the book shows a woman’s torso, upper thighs and arm made out of weave —the “banig” weave found in the Philippines. She is standing in front of mountains. Her hand is by her thigh, palm face down, fingers delicately extended. Two flowers grow out of her forearm and upper thigh. The pink and purple hues of dawn are behind her. The title reads “Phantompains”. It sits above the peephole which is part of the book’s black background. At the bottom of the book is the authors’ name: Therese Estacion.
A peep hole in the middle of the book shows a woman’s torso, upper thighs and arm made out of weave —the “banig” weave found in the Philippines. She is standing in front of mountains. Her hand is by her thigh, palm face down, fingers delicately extended. Two flowers grow out of her forearm and upper thigh. The pink and purple hues of dawn are behind her. The title reads “Phantompains”. It sits above the peephole which is part of the book’s black background. At the bottom of the book is the authors’ name: Therese Estacion.

Therese Estacion is part of the Visayan diaspora community. She spent her childhood between Cebu and Gihulngan, two distinct islands found in the archipelago named by its colonizers as the Philippines, before she moved to Canada with her family when she was ten years old. She is an elementary school teacher and is currently studying to be a psychotherapist. Therese is also a bilateral below knee and partial hands amputee, and identifies as a disabled person/person with a disability. Therese lives in Toronto. Her poems have been published in CV2 and PANK Magazine, and shortlisted for the Marina Nemat Award. Phantompains is her first book.

Giveaway Details

1) Any disabled person in the U.S. or Canada is eligible for this giveaway.

2) The first 8 people to email the Disability Visibility Project will receive a book (e-pub or paperback). If you do not receive a reply to your email please know all books have been claimed.

3) You can also purchase a PDF, paperback, or e-pub from the publisher.

4) Send an email to DisabilityVisibilityProject@gmail.com with ‘Book Giveaway’ in the title of the message. Do not reply to this newsletter!!

5) Include the following information in your message:

  • First and last name
  • Mailing address
  • Format preferred, one only: paperback or e-pub

If you do not include all of the required information I will not fulfill your request.

Please note: I will send your information along with your email address to the publisher who will reach out to you.

Published by:

Alice Wong

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