Tag: literature

Call for Entries: Gawad Panitikang Pangkalusugan

 


Mu Sigma Phi, the first medical sorority in the Philippines and Asia, is calling for entries for the Gawad Panitikang Pangkalusugan, a multi-awarded nationwide storybook writing competition with health as its main theme. The competition “challenges participants to break away from a clinical, straightforward and sanitized presentation of health and to mold it in a form that is enjoyable and of interest for its young audience.”

The winning stories for the project are reproduced incolorful and engaging (and bilingual!) storybooks on health for underprivileged children and families. These books not only spread awareness about relevant health issues; they also advocate literacy and education and celebrate Filipino ingenuity and culture.

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The Lost Language

Back in December, the Filipino book bloggers met up with Marianne Villanueva, who is one of the most delightful authors I’ve ever had the chance to meet.

I got a signed copy of her book,  The Lost Language: Stories (and in nice paper, too!) and I finally got to read it earlier this year.

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Miguel Syjuco launches ‘Ilustrado’

I spent most of last week in Davao City, toting along my review copy of Miguel Syjuco’s Ilustrado, winner of the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize and the Palanca Award. It’s a metafictional novel that pieces together the life of Filipino writer-in-exile Crispin Salvador as his student, Miguel weaves together fragments of Salvador’s body of work, personal interviews, blog entries, newspaper clippings, and many other sources as he investigates his teacher’s mysterious death.

I spent most of my spare time engrossed in the novel — at the airport, on flights, and before hitting the sack at the hotel room  —  and I was looking forward to coming back to Manila to attend the press conference and launch at National Book Store.

The review will have to wait; I just finished the novel and I’m reviewing it for Manila Bulletin, so here’s a recap of the launch, the first release of Ilustrado anywhere in the world!

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Love gone awry

Since I joined the A-Z Challenge, I’ve crossed out three names on the list already. I first crossed off Trenton Lee Stewart with the first two books of the Mysterious Benedict Society, which I enjoyed tremendously. I managed to cross off two more: Emile Zola with For a Night of Love (Z); and F. Scott Fitzgerald with The Rich Boy (F).

The two books are published by Hesperus Press, a sophisticated imprint I’m growing fond of (I have Jonathan Swift’s Directions to Servants and a couple other books from Hesperus Press). Hesperus specializes in hard to find novellas and short stories of famous authors, with each book running to only 100 pages or so. I got a bunch of them on sale last year, and while I don’t normally like mass market paperbacks, Hesperus books are a welcome addition to my library — I love the concept behind the imprint and the elegance of the book design.

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Swiss Family Robinson

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Growing up, one of the most read books on my shelves was a well-thumbed copy of Johann Wyss’ Swiss Family Robinson. It was one of those cheap, watered down illustrated classic editions, but it provided me many long hours of entertainment as I fantasized about what I would do if I were shipwrecked on an exotic island.

That old book has long been missing — I think it was donated to a book drive, and I sorely missed it, so I’d been looking for a nice replacement for the longest time.

Last year, at one of my bargain book haunts (the Book Sale branch in Mall of Asia) I was able to unearth an exquisite Everyman’s Library Classic edition, with a cloth bound, gilded cover, a gold bookmark ribbon, vintage endpapers, and lovely illustrations by Louis Rhead! The best part? It was only P90 (less than $2)!

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