Manila Noir (Part 2)

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After the interview with Jessica Hagedorn, I headed over to the National Book Store flagship in Glorietta 1 for the “Manila Noir” launch.

Luckily, we got there early, as a huge crowd turned out for the launch that afternoon. Not only did the event showcase “Manila Noir” editor Jessica Hagedorn; a good number of contributors also graced the event, including Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo, Rosario Cruz-Lucero, Jose Dalisay, Lourd de Veyra, Angelo Lacuesta, and R. Zamora Linmark.

As promised, here’s Part 2 of my Manila Noir reportage:

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Jessica Hagedorn on Manila Noir (Part 1)

Book Cover - Manila Noir

I’d been looking forward to the launch of the anthology, “Manila Noir” for weeks, not only because I enjoyed reading the book, but also because a good number of the contributors were slated to appear, and it was a rare opportunity for a spectacular gathering of Filipino writers.

“Manila Noir” is a collection of stories depicting the city as an ideal setting for the noir genre. It is one volume of Akashic Books’ Noir series, an acclaimed series of original noir anthologies set in different cities all over the world, locally published by Anvil Publishing. “Manila Noir” is edited by Jessica Hagedorn, with stories by Lourd de Veyra, F.H. Batacan, Angelo Lacuesta, Jose Dalisay, R. Zamora Linmark, Lysley Tenorio, Rosario Cruz-Lucero, Budjette Tan & Kajo Baldisimo, Marianne Villanueva, and many more.

Before the launch at the National Book Store flagship in Glorietta 1, though, I had a lovely chat about the book (and other things) with Jessica Hagedorn herself, over at the Writer’s Bar in Raffles Fairmont. Below is a transcript of the interview.

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Soledad’s Sister

I’ve seen some of Butch Dalisay’s work in the movies and I’ve read his newspaper column every so often, but I must admit that I’ve never read any of his stories, and I thought I’d start this year. I normally try out authors by starting out  with their shorter works, and I’ve got a copy of Dalisay’s Old Timer and Other Stories somewhere in my Everest of TBR book. But I’ve always wanted to read Soledad’s Sister, not just because it was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2007, but because I read the back-of-the-book summary and it seemed quite interesting to me.

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