Dancing Hands: A Story of Friendship in Filipino Sign Language

About Charina MarquezJoanna Que

Joanna Que was inspired to write Dancing Hands after being invited to join a writing workshop with Room to Read a San Francisco-based nonprofit and Adarna House a prominent Filipinx publisher. She finds sign language beautiful and her desire is to spark more conversations about the importance of inclusion. Apart from writing Joanna finds joy in making things with her hands and her best ideas often come about while being around nature. She lives with her dog and cat friends in Manila Philippines. Charina Marquez is a baker researcher sign language instructor and deaf rights advocate. Born Deaf she loves languages communicating using sign language and written English and Tagalog languages. She holds a degree in Visual Communication from the University of the Philippines Diliman and worked as an animator art restorer and graphic designer before opening her own online cake and pastry business Silent Baker Charina. In addition to baking and her many artistic pursuits Charina loves outdoor activities like skating and surfing. She lives in Quezon City Philippines. Fran Alvarez is an illustrator working in both digital and analog mediums. She was invited to join Room to Read's illustrators workshop where she created the art for Dancing Hands . She loves her work to reflect a handmade feel whatever the material and she enjoys experimenting with embroidery and printmaking. These days she is mostly inspired by nature music childhood memories and day-to-day life. When she is not at her desk she likes to be outside staring at plants with her dog Kimchi. She lives in Manila Philippines.