Marianne Villanueva – Bookmarked!

Manila Noir (Part 2)

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)

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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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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10 interesting things about Marianne Villanueva

Last Saturday, I was holed up at Libreria again with fellow Flippers and book bloggers for a meetup with author Marianne Villanueva, arranged by Rocket Kapre. The Flippers were supposed to have a breakfast meeting, but I went home well past midnight from the previous night’s office party, got an hour’s sleep before dragging myself out of bed for the dawn mass, and then went back to sleep. I was alarmed when Gege’s text woke me up at 10am, when we were designated to meet! I threw on a shirt, shorts and flipflops (and I forgot my camera, too!) and hightailed it to Cubao, just in time for lunch at Ali Mall.

I was still bleary eyed by the time we went back to Libreria, but the discussion was well underway, and I think I was barely coherent while I was nursing a couple cups coffee. Unfortunately I had to hightail it again back home to Makati for a change of clothes for a girls’ night out with my high school friends, but I did get my copy of The Lost Language: Stories signed, and enough interesting factoids about the author to make me want to read the book!

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