UP PRESS TO LAUNCH AGAW DILIM, AGAW LIWANAG

Lualhati M. Abreu will be launching her book Agaw Dilim, Agaw Liwanag on January 29 at the UP Press Bookstore in Balay Kalinaw, UP Diliman. The launch will start at 3 p.m. and is sponsored by the First Quarter Storm Movement.

Agaw Dilim, Agaw Liwanag won the Gawad Likhaan: UP Centennial Literary Awards creative nonfiction category. The other winners of the Gawad Likhaan like Jerry Gracio’s Aves and Jose Marte Abueg’s Bird Lands, River Nights and Other Melancholies have also been published by the UP Press.

Says critic Caroline Hau: “Ang Agaw-dilim, Agaw-liwanag—kagila-gilalas na talambuhay ni Lualhati M. Abreu—aktibista, peminista, gerilya, at manggagawang pangkultura—ay malalim na nakahabi sa kasaysayan ng mga pakikibakang mapagpalaya sa Pilipinas nitong huling sandaang taon. 

Ang salaysay na ito ng isang tagaloob ukol sa mga ugat, pagpapanimula, paglawak, krisis, at mga tagumpay ng kontemporaneong kilusang rebolusyonaryo ay namumukod hindi lamang dahil sa mga suring-tanaw nito sa mga tao, lugar, at pangyayari na humubog sa pulitikang radikal, kundi dahil rin sa walang-kurap nitong pagkaprangka at nanunuot na pagsudsod sa pait at tamis ng komitment at sakripisyo na nasa kaibuturan ng rebolusyonaryong pag-iisip at pagkilos.”

National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera also praised the work in its Gawad Likhaan Citation: “Walang pasubali na nagkaisa ang tatlong hurado ng Malikhaing Sanaysay na igawad kay Lualhati Abreu ang tanging gantimpala, tanda ng kanilang pagkilala sa saklaw at lalim ng pagtalakay sa kasaysayang pinaksa, at sa igting at hakab ng kanyang pagkasapol sa malanobelang teknik upang mailahad ang talambuhay ng isang babaeng matibay na isinabuhay ang kanyang rebolusyonaryong paninindigan sa akdang Agaw-dilim, Agaw-liwanag. Kahanga-hanga ang paggamit sa wika na buong linaw na nakapagtanghal sa mga pangyayari at tauhang gumalaw sa naratibo ng kanyang karanasan bilang aktibista at rebolusyonarya. Ibayo ang itinaas ng pamantayan sa pagsusulat ng malikhaing sanaysay sa wikang Filipino bunga ng praktika ni Bb. Abreu.”

Abreu does research work and writing for non-government organizations in Metro Manila and Mindanao. She is taking up History at the UP Diliman.

Arvin Abejo Mangohig

UP PRESS HOLDS DECEMBER SALE

The University of the Philippines Press will have its annual sale on December 1-18, 2009. Enjoy up to 80 percent discounts on our renowned publications as well as titles included in the UPP Centennial Publications and our new collection of books for the year 2009.

Come and visit the University of the Philippines Press Bookstore at E. delos Santos Street, UP Diliman Campus, Quezon City or at the Balay Kalinaw G/F Dagohoy, cor. Guerrero Street. See the map here.

Enjoy your Christmas shopping at the UP Press Bookstore!

For other inquiries please call the University of The Philippines Press at (02) 926-6642, email press@up.edu.ph, or visit our website at http://uppress.com.ph. 
 

UP PRESS LAUNCHES NEW TITLES FOR 2009

The University of the Philippines Press will launch its new titles for the second half of the year 2009. The event, dubbed Paglulunsad 2009: Ikalawang Yugto, will be held on November 23, 2009, 5:00 pm at the Balay Kalinaw located at Guerrero corner Dagohoy Streets, UP Diliman, Quezon City.

The literary titles are Aves by Jerry Gracio; Bird Lands, River Nights, and Other Melancholies by Jose Marte Abueg; Balisa: Trilohiya ng mga Dulang may Tatlong Yugto by Reuel Molina Aguila and XXth Century: 2 Plays by Malou Jacob; Looking for the Philippines: Travel Essays by Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo; Regarding Franz edited by Elizabeth Arcellana Nuqui and Lydia Rodriguez Arcellana; and Philippine Short Stories (1941-1955) Part I (1941-1949) edited by Leopoldo Yabes (Centennial edition).           

The scholarly titles are Pag-aklas, Pagbaklas, Pagbagtas: Kritikal na Kritisismong Pampanitikan by Rolando Tolentino;  Kalusugang Pampubliko sa Kolonyal na Maynila 1898-1918 by Ronaldo Mactal; Unplugging the Constitution by Florin Ternal Hilbay; A Satire of Two Nations: Exploring Images of the Japanese in Philippine Political Cartoons by Helen Yu-Rivera; "Women's Common Destiny": Maternal Representations in the Cebuano Serialized Fiction of Hilda Montaire and Austregelina Espina-Moore by Hope Sabanpan-Yu; Philippine Studies: Have We Gone Beyond St. Louis? edited by Priscelina Patajo-Legasto; and Huwaran/Hulmahan Atbp: The Film Writings of Johven Velasco edited by Joel David. 

Buyers at the launch will enjoy a 20 percent discount on all the new titles. Authors will also be on hand to autograph copies of their books. For inquiries regarding the launch, contact Ange at 926-6642 and press@up.edu.ph.

UPP GOES TO BAGUIO FOR PMA BOOK FAIR

The University of The Philippines Press will be joining the 15th Annual Book Fair of the Philippine Military Academy together with other publishers and book dealers on November 9-13 at the Lecture Hall B, PMA Fort del Pilar, Baguio City.

Please come and visit the University of the Philippines Press booth. Available for sale are our renowned publications, as well as some titles included in the UPP Centennial Publications and new titles for the year 2009.

The event is organized by the Learning Resource Center, Headquarters Academic Group of the Philippine Military Academy (pma_library@yahoo.com).

For other inquiries regarding the event, please call the University of The Philippines Press at (02) 926-6642 or e-mai us at press@up.edu.ph.

REGARDING FRANZ BOOK LAUNCH IN UP DILIMAN

Regarding Franz will be launched on October 27, 2009 (Tuesday), 3 p.m. at the Bulwagang Rizal (Faculty Center) in UP Diliman.

Arvin Abejo Mangohig

FINALISTS FOR THE 28th NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS ANNOUNCED

Four University of the Philippines Press titles have been announced as finalists for this year's National Book Awards by the NBDB and the Manila Critics Circle (MCC). The winners will be announced during the awarding ceremonies which will be held on November 14 at the Ayala Museum.

The categories and UPP titles are as follows: Literary Criticism/Literary History
From Globalization to National Liberation: Essays of Three Decades by Epifanio San Juan, Jr.; Our Scene So Fair: Filipino Poetry in English, 1905 to 1955 by Gémino H. Abad; Science Solid Waste Management: Principles and Practices by Filemon A. Uriarte, Jr.; and Selected Essays on Science and Technology for Securing a Better Philippines, Volume I, edited by Gisela P. Padilla-Concepcion, Eduardo A. Padlan, and Caesar A. Saloma. 

            

                                        

 Click here for the complete lists of finalists and judges.

UP PRESS REPRINTS THE MORO ISLAMIC CHALLENGE

In time for the first anniversary this October 14 of the Supreme Court decision invalidating the controversial GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), the University of the Philippines Press has released its second printing of human rights lawyer and legal scholar Soliman M. Santos, Jr.’s 2001 book The Moro Islamic Challenge: Constitutional Rethinking for the Mindanao Peace Process.  The book had been out of stock for several years now, and more demand for it came in the aftermath of the MOA-AD decision.

After the MOA-AD breakdown in the GRP-MILF peace negotiations, which only recently resumed, there has been a felt need for new ways forward, still in the spirit of “open(ing) new formulas that permanently         respond to the aspirations of the Bangsamoro people for freedom.” This book, as originally published, still offers a few ways forward, formulas or ideas, different from but complementary to the track taken with the MOA-AD, so that it may be possible to develop an alternative track for Bangsamoro self-determination that is both politically and constitutionally feasible.  For one thing, the MOA-AD debacle has proven one key thesis of this book that the Moro Islamic challenge warrants not only a negotiated political settlement but also a negotiated constitutional settlement that go hand in hand.

Long-time UP Political Science Professor Temario Rivera, in material published post-MOA-AD last year, described the book as “The most systematic work of constitutional rethinking and innovation to accommodate an Islamic system in the Philippines.”  Then UP Law Dean Raul Pangalangan, in his 2001 Foreword to the book, described it as “… the singular work in Philippine legal scholarship that confronts what is emerging to be a universal dilemma, that of acknowledging Islam within the liberal state… It will be useful for many: for the traditional lawyer, who wishes to see the overlapping domains of domestic and international law, of human rights and humanitarian law, of local and comparative laws;… and for scholars and students, who see law as a way of reimagining alternative futures for a world that longs for daring and imagination.”

The book is now available at the UP Press Book Store in Balay Kalinaw, UP Diliman, Quezon City, the UP Press Display Room on E. de los Santos St, UP Diliman, and other major book stores at a retail price of P300.

THE LIFE AND WORKS OF MARCELO ADONAY CONCERT LAUNCH AT THE UP THEATER

The UP Theater lobby was filled to the brim with music lovers from all over the Philippines when The Life and Works of Marcelo Adonay was launched last September 17. Elena Rivera Mirano, College of Arts and Letters dean and the book's editor, was all too happy that the lights came back on after a brief rainstorm cut off power in parts of the UP campus. They were prepared to sing by candlelight, it was said.

UP Press Director Luisa Camagay started with a short speech introducing the book. Mirano then told the story of the labor of love that was this book, coming to Pakil, Laguna almost a decade ago and marvelling at the statue of Adonay, baton in hand, deservedly glorified as local hero. She and her team       of music scholars saved "parts of parts, pieces of pieces, fragments of fragments..." by scouring through private collections. Some manuscripts had been damaged by floods. Some had been doomed to be burned. Eleven musical scores and ten years after, the book was launched, first at the Paglulunsad 2009 at the Vargas Museum last July with eleven other UP Press titles.

Edna Marcil Martinez, co-editor, went on to explain the particular problems of "realizing" the sound Adonay had in his head. The pieces had not been performed for some fifty to one hundred years. The quirky parts of the winds and brass were too "malikot." The atmosphere of the Gloria from Pequena Misa Solemne was not quite right, and in some works, Marcelo Adonay, himself an excellent violist,  had disappointingly not written out a viola part.

The music part of the programs were performed by the Marcelo Adonay Choir, The UP Cherubim and Seraphim, and the UP Orchestra Chamber Enesemble. Soloists were Nita Abrogar Quinto, Ralph Tayan, and Ramon Acoymo. Standouts were Acoymo, who filled the spacious lobby with his glorious tenor, and the thrilling Gloria. 

National Artists for Literature Virgilio S. Almario and Bienvenido Lumbera were present. Also seen were College of Mass Communications dean Rolando Tolentino, KontraGapi's Edru Abraham, and music great Ramon Santos. Delegates from Pakil, Batangas, and Bohol also came.

The Life and Works of Marcelo Adonay is available at the UP Press Bookstore and Display Room. The softbound edition is priced at P1,200 and the hardbound edition at P1,800. A second volume, now with fifteen scores, is already being worked on, a fitting tribute to Maestro Adonay and Philippine music in general.

Arvin Abejo Mangohig

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