GOLD Star Daily columnist David Haldane will launch a new book on his experiences as an expatriate in Surigao City later this month. The book, “A Tooth in My Popsicle,” is a compilation of his weekly columns which have appeared in this newspaper since 2019.
“I wrote the book to tell the story of a transformative adventure, sometimes frightening, often frustrating, occasionally hilarious, but always, I hope, entertaining,” Haldane, an award-winning American journalist, author, and radio broadcaster explains. “I hope A Tooth in My Popsicle motivates other dreamers to pursue what their hearts truly desire.”
Haldane’s dream began in 2008 when he got laid off from his long-time position as a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times shortly after marrying a Filipina from Siargao Island. “Driving home that day was the longest trip of my life,” he recalls. “How do you tell the bride you just brought to America for a new life that that life is suddenly uncertain?”
In what has been described as a “reverse diaspora story,” the couple decided to move to Surigao City where they built their dream house overlooking the sea, enrolled their young son in a local school, and eventually gave birth to a new baby daughter in the midst of the world’s longest and strictest Covid lockdown. He recounted this vividly in his weekly column “Expat Eye.”
The book is “a passionate love story told with elegance straight from the heart,” said local historian Fernando Almeda. Writing in the Philippine Star, another expat columnist, Scott Garceau, said “Haldane liberally sprinkles his tale with genuine warmth and gradual understanding as he comes to appreciate his new home.”
The Surigao City event—scheduled for April 25 at City Hall—is the culmination of a series of appearances that began last month in Manila, then moved to Cebu, and, finally, this past weekend to Mindanao State University in Iligan.
The Surigao City event will include books, readings, and a session of questions and answers. (Patrick Bonales)
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