During the summer, students and faculty ventured to the Philippines and followed the thrilling journey of Jay Reguero, reading the book “Patron Saints of Nothing” by local author Randy Ribay.
On Sept. 25, Ribay gave a presentation in the Lindland Theatre, stirring conversations that reverberated throughout the hallowed campus. This is the first time a summer reading author has visited the Riordan campus in 10 years.
During the presentation, Ribay talked about his early life, discussed his general writing process with respect to “Patron Saints of Nothing,” and answered questions from various students and faculty.
Elena Navarro ’26 presents Randy Ribay with a gift from the Art Club.
Afterwards, students had the opportunity to pick up Ribay’s new book “Everything We Never Had” and also get their copy of “Patron Saints of Nothing” signed.
“When I was growing up, I did not want to be a writer. But I loved stories… I never thought that was a career that I could have.”
Ribay said, “To my parents’ horror, I switched my major [from aerospace engineering] to English. For the first time in my life, I started reading from Filipino authors.”
Ribay expressed how he writes in order to answer a question. For “Patron Saints of Nothing,” he asked himself the question: “What right do I have to talk about politics in the Philippines?”
Offering advice for rising writers, he said to “Read like a writer… Be curious about people, about history … [my Filipino culture] had to be something I had to proactively sought out.”
A break from the traditional bell schedule, Ribay gave two 40 minute presentations, with session one for the houses of Russi and Pilar and session two for Bolts and Cana.
The opening remarks came from West Portal Bookstore representative Lillian Van Cleve. Diana Assereto, Dean of Academics, served as the host.
During her opening remarks, Van Cleve emphasized how an entire school community reading the same long-form book “is really special … This doesn’t happen everywhere.”
When asked about how he felt hearing a Bay Area school choose his book for the summer reading, Ribay said, “I’m always honored … [It is] even more meaningful that it’s this area.”
Students lined up outside of Lindland Theatre to get Randy Ribay to autograph their book.
At the end of the presentation, Art Club presented a portrait to the author, and the Philippine American Coalition gifted him a personalized balikbayan box as a thanks for reminding them to take pride in their culture.
A balikbayan box is a care package sent by Filipino people living abroad to the Philippines.
Zion Mykael Del Rosario ’28 said the novel “honestly exceeded my expectations.”
Likewise, Head Librarian Daniel Appel commented on the book, saying it was “a great selection.”
After Ribay’s visit, Christopher Ding ’28 felt it was “pretty cool for the author of our summer reading book to visit the school.”
