– My poem, “Sadness: A Catalogue“, is now live on the Philippines Free Press website. Comments are welcome, and feel free to share the link.
– April Yap’s book, Stressed in the City, can now be downloaded for free! Visit her. Thanks to Luis K. for sharing it on Twitter.
I have also just found out that I am in the initial shortlist (50 poets, 50 poems) for inclusion in Under the Storm: An Anthology of Contemporary Philippine Poetry.
We’ve received over 290 submissions for the anthology. Our sincerest thanks to everyone who has submitted. We are choosing 113 poems from 113 of the poets who’ve submitted. This is in commemoration of our 113 years of Independence, of being Filipinos, of being Filipino writers.
4th .MOV International Film, Music, & Literature Festival
Yesterday was a Blog Action Day to save Philippine corals, in light of distressing revelations regarding the extent of illegal coral/turtle harvesting and export. To participate in the attempt to raise awareness, I sent an open invitation to Filipino authors to participate in a special edition of the #RP612fic event, and tweet micro fiction stories with a coral/marine theme. (Note: We’ll still be holding the normal #RP612fic on independence day, and the 13th as well.)
It was a lot of fun (even if my Internet cut out midway through) and I think that we managed to entertain folks on Twitter (and confuse a few–but if we make them ask questions, that’s a form of raising awareness too!) and the Save Philippine Seas organizers took note of our stories.
A new poem! “Sadness: A Catalogue” will be included in the June 11 issue of the Philippines Free Press (available in print on June 8). Many thanks to Literary Editor Joel M. Toledo. Will link once the piece is available on the website. (In the meantime, wait for the print copy and maybe buy? Hee.)
Jaykie came with me, and so did Beej (of Nosfecatu fame) and Phil (who also has a story in the volume – congrats!)
my book launch date
Before the PSF launch, Kenneth Yu took the stage to unveil the latest (and sadly, last) print edition of Philippine Genre Stories. It’s the Special Crime Issue, edited by Ichi Batacan. In her message, Batacan thanked the authors for not resorting to the crime cliches: detectives in trench coats, criminals in pinstripe suits.
Thanks Kyu for the copy! (He handed me one, then I lost it in the flurry of signing books and saying hi to friends. Thanks for replacing it, and I’m sorry!) I’ll read this soon.
Despite the end of PGS’s print run, Kyu has moved PGS to an online home. Visit: http://philippinegenrestories.com/ and stand by for more stories.
The PSF launch was hosted by the ever-jubilant Dean Alfar.
As usual, authors, introvert or no, had to stand up and say something. As usual, I tried to appear smart and charming and failed miserably. One of the contributors expressed it best: “Kailangan ba talaga magsalita? Kaya nga ako nagsusulat eh.”
This is Phil.This is me being giggly and fat.
Meet the editors!
Kate Aton-OsiasNikki Alfar
Dean also announced that PSF 7 is now accepting submissions. The next volume will be edited by the husband-and-wife tandem Alex and Kate Osias. Stand by for the guidelines, they should be online soon. Click here for the guidelines.
Class picture!
This was followed by a mad scramble for copies (the book sold out fast!) and author signatures.
Happy to see the contributors (some of whom are familiar faces) and to finally meet Honey de Peralta and Elyss Punsalan. Tin Lao introduced me to Dumaguete peeps Alyza and Jordan. It is always lovely to be told that there are indeed people out there who read (and enjoy) my work.
We had to break away from the group for celebratory dinner at Abe + gelato at Gelatissimo + coffee at CBTL. I had two shots of infused cappuccino and I still fell asleep before 3 a.m. (after watching Shaun of the Dead with J). And here I thought I would be up till morning.
At Abe: Bamboo rice + Bicol Express (na walang karne at hindi maanghang pero masarap) + lumpiang ubod (favorite ko to) + green mango with bagoong + pritong baby hito + adobong lamb = ang takaw namin, keri
My loot:
Kelly Link book + The Little Prince Moleskine from the ubiquitous Charles Tan (who gave similar gifts to several writers, kay yaman) - thanks! + a hard copy of the PSF 7 guidelinesPGS Crime + PSF 6
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Hey love, public speaking is not my strong suit, so I forgot to say your name in my “speech”. But in my head, in silence, I thank you every day, all the time. I thank you always. Thanks for coming with me to celebrate another publication.
One of the copies will go to my parents, the other will be on my TBR list!
To wit:
The Mighty Reading List!
Feast for Crows
The Kobayashi Maru of Love
Showbiz Lengua
PGS Horror issue
Floating Dragon
El Bimbo Variations
The Tesseract
Faithful Place
Moxyland
Zoo City
The Dispossessed
Our Story Begins
reading now: Glass Soup
Here on Earth
The Pull of the Moon
Little Bee
Story Quarterly Issue 44
The Bell Jar
Thank you to the editors.
Founded in 1975, StoryQuarterly has been publishing emerging and established writers for over 30 years. Originally an independent quarterly based in Illinois, its contributors’ work has been selected for inclusion in the annual collections The Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize: The Best of the Small Presses, and The Best American Non-Required Reading. Among the acclaimed writers who have written for the journal are Margaret Atwood, Ann Beattie, Frederick Busch, Joyce Carol Oates, T.C. Boyle and Jhumpa Lahiri.
In the summer of 2008, Rutgers University–Camden acquired Story Quarterly. J.T. Barbarese, associate professor of English who teaches poetry in the newly established MFA Program in creative writing, is the new editor. Rutgers–Camden novelists Lisa Zeidner, professor of English, and Lauren Grodstein, assistant professor of English, will serve as assistant editors. M.M.M. Hayes, who edited Story Quarterly for the past decade, remains with the journal as senior contributing editor.
Through its new affiliation with Rutgers University, Story Quarterly will continue to publish an annual print edition, the first one to appear through Rutgers–Camden in the summer of 2009 and will continue as an online presence that will showcase new work year-round. In addition Story Quarterly will begin to publish creative nonfiction and look to make the interview a staple feature.
You may contact their office for subscription questions, or if you want to get your hands on a copy.
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I had to go to the Makati post office and pay a parcel fee of P40 to get these copies, and I still don’t know why. (Where will the P40 go?) Apparently the package had to go through Customs? (Again, why? My books from The Book Depository reached me just fine.)
Dinner for two: soup, spam-and-egg sandwiches, rootbeer floats.
We had Thor-day on Thursday. Friday was supposed to be badminton, but Jaykie was feeling sick, so I lifted weights while he rested with his iPad. Saturday was Free Comic Book Day and the first day of the two-day Comic Con, but it was too hot to leave J’s air-conditioned room. It was so hot I had to take at least two showers. Saturday pm it began to rain really hard, complete with thunder and drama. Counterproductive weather. We did nothing but eat and watch shows. White Collar. Sons of Anarchy. Battlestar Galactica (the remake). How I Met Your Mother. Parks & Rec. Big Bang Theory. Community. Modern Family (their Mothers’ Day episode cracked me up – I love Gloria). Plus Inside Job, a documentary that J and I liked a lot.
Monday night, we were on our way from Makati to QC. Jaykie wanted to eat somewhere, and I mentioned Domino’s.
He seemed pretty excited haha. He said he hadn’t had Domino’s pizza in a long while. The last time I had Domino’s was in grade school! There was a Domino’s branch near our home, but it folded I think only after a year.
Anyway I liked their ordering system. Your name appears on a screen, plus the number of minutes before your order can be served, and the status of the pizza (IN OVEN, etc.). Pretty cool.
The pasta (I had bolognese) was blah but the pizza’s pretty good. We had Domino’s Deluxe. The pizza remained soft even after it went cold.
Eliza Victoria 