national book store – Page 5

Kobo partners with National Book Store for digital reading

Tonight I got home from one of the most exciting events I’ve covered in my stint as a book blogger: National Book Store’s Kobo launch.

Yes, that’s right, one of the world’s biggest players in e-reading, Kobo, has teamed up with the brick and mortar National Book Store for a digital reading ecosystem in the Philippines.

Three Kobo devices: the award-winning Kobo Touch, the Kobo Glo, and the Kobo Touch will be exclusively available at selected National Book Store branches, Powerbooks stores, and via nationalbookstore.com starting Sept. 20. Simultaneous with the devices, a Philippine website will also go live on Sept. 20, giving readers access to both local and international titles in Kobo’s eBookStore.

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Harry Potter 2013

Before my week gets all-out crazy (it’s Book Fair week, after all), I’m channeling Zen mode right now and blogging about one of my favorite topics — Harry Potter!

It’s a significant time for Harry Potter fans, as September marks the 15th anniversary of Harry Potter, and Scholastic is celebrating it with the release of a new set of covers by critically acclaimed artist Kazu Kibuishi, best known for his #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novel series, Amulet.

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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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Philippine Style

I’ve been reading bits and pieces of the coffeetable book Philippine Style: Design & Architecture by Luca Tettoni and Elizabeth V. Reyes over several months now, and it’s proven to be the sort of book you can get lost in for hours, with a wealth of detail to explore.

Published by Anvil, Philippine Style is a showcase of Philippine architecture and design, tracing its history from the pre-colonial bahay kubo (nipa hut) to bahay na bato, down to the contemporary Filipino home, in full color and exquisite detail.

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