Philippines-born Leo Consul has spent less than five years in Indonesia, but he seems to already have conquered the entertainment business. He is an actor, singer, dancer, TV host, chef and most recently a writer — and he’s just getting started.

His latest book, A Thousand Miles in Broken Slippers, tells the story of his journey from a poor village in the Philippines to building a career for himself in Indonesia. The book, he says, is aimed at inspiring people who share the same background as him, showing there is hope.   

 “It’s called A Thousand Miles in Broken Slippers because from where I came from, just having a pair of slippers was considered a luxury,” said Leo, who carved out a place for himself in the entertainment industry by becoming a presenter on TV show franchise “Eat Bulaga Indonesia”.

“The book is basically about my journey from being a poor boy in the Philippines to where I am right now and how the values and lessons that my step-father instilled in me gave me the strength to go on this journey.”

The book was born from his passion for creative writing.

“Writing is another outlet for me to express myself aside from being in front of the camera. I love writing inspirational things, and I love making anecdotes. I used to enter feature story contests when I was young and I was not bad,” he said, adding that publishing this latest work is a dream come true for him.

Leo says that sharing his personal story was not as easy as he thought it would be.

“It was difficult for me to start writing and I thought it was because I was lazy — but it really turned out to be a difficult experience, having to go through the pain of my childhood all over again.”

While Leo wrote the English version of the book, he approached author Rosi L. Simamora to translate his work into Indonesian. His decision to work together with Rosi was because they both have a similar poetic way of writing.

“For example, when we want to say that it’s going to rain, we say that the sky is sad and it’s going to cry,” he said.  

The book became a best-seller within two months of its release. There are now plans to translate the book into Tagalog to reach his fans in the Philippines, and also plans to adapt the story into a film.  

Leo says he loves cozying up with a good book to read at home. He loves reading inspirational stories like those of photographer Brandon Stanton who writes the Humans of New York books and blog.

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The writer is an intern at the Jakarta post

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‘The Five People You Meet in Heaven’
By Mitch Albom

 

I love reading Albom because we have the same writing approach — we love using juxtaposition and we love sharing inspirational stories with others through writing.

 

‘The Kite Runner’
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Khaled Hosseini is another one of my favorite authors and this book speaks to me on so many different levels — through the story itself and also through Hosseini’s writing style.

‘Tuesdays with Morrie’
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This book has a significant relevance to my life because I had a teacher back in the Philippines who was just like Morrie — she died at an early age as well.

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