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UP PRESS AT 46 Any time is always a good time to
visit a bookstore but last month may have been an extra good time for
those who visited the UP Press Bookstore because of the monthlong sale.
March
marks the UP Press anniversary and to celebrate its 46th year all UPP
titles, including new releases and bestsellers, were sold at a 20
percent discount while consigned items were given at a five percent
discount.Aside from the sale, a surprise gift was also given to an
unsuspecting 46th customer.
An online promotion via the
University of the Philippines Facebook fan page was launchedweeks
before the sale to usher in the celebration.Books and UP Press
stationeries were given away as prizes for lucky participants who
answered theweekly questions posted from February 7 – March 4. The
promo winners were a mix of students from various universities and
professionals from all over the Metro.
The event closed
with a thanksgiving mass and lunch held last March 31 at the UP Press
office. Vice President for Academic Affairs Professor Gisela Concepcion
and Vice President for Administration Professor Maragtas Amante joined
UP Press Director Maria Luisa Camagay and staff.
ALIWW ANNOUNCES SEMINARS BY TWO WOMEN WRITERS
The
Ateneo Library of Women's Writings (ALIWW) wishes to announce its
Summer Writing Program. Award-winning writers Criselda Yabes and Rica
Bolipata-Santos will hold separate writing seminars all throughout the
merry month of May. Below is the schedule of classes which will be held
at the ALIWW, Old Rizal Library, Ateneo de Manila University. Seminar
fee for all lessons is P8000. Early bird registration before April 15
is P7000. Please call 4266001 loc 5561 or email aliww@admu.edu.ph.
Criselda's classes
Saturdays, 9-12 am
May 7, 14, 21, 28
Rica's classes
Fridays, 2-5 pm
May 6, 13, 20, 27
---
Criselda Yabes and Rica Bolipata-Santos are authors of UP Press published titles.
Criselda Yabes
Below the Crying Mountain
Sarena's Story
Rica Bolipata-Santos
Lost and Found and Other Essays.
THE ASIAN RELIGIOUS SENSIBILITY AND CHRISTIAN (CARMELITE)
SPIRITUALITY BY SR. TERESA JOSEPH PATRICK OF JESUS AND MARY OCD
(JOSEFINA D. CONSTANTINO) NOW AVAILABLE
Written by a Carmelite
Filipino contemplative nun who was given a MISSIO grant for this study
in 1976, the new edition includes a report based on a special
permission granted her to visit and stay a month each in a Carmelite
monastery in India, Thailand, and Indonesia. In the providence of God,
she was able to have a three-day stay in Canton, China, as just one
more aspect of reality in today’s Asia; a copy of this report is also
included. A fascinating mosaic of varied forms of exposition, the book
can be read in any part; actually it can be called a collection of nine
paperbacks. Each chapter is a small book in itself.
Writing in
alternatingly vigorous, charming, profound, and even poetic prose, the
writer explores, gropingly and tentatively, the Asian subconscious in
the light of Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, and Moslem cultures. In varied
ways, suitable to the literary forms she uses, the book renders itself
invaluable for providing not only sharp, original, and perceptive
insights, but also possible models for dialogues and exchanges.
This
book is a stupendous spiritual magnum opus whose message rings true
today as it did more than thirty years ago. It is a Filipino masterwork
in religious philosophy, theology, narrative, and memoirs. Constantino,
a former UP English professor, treads various fields with a mighty and
complex pen, traversing and catapulting into spiritual and intellectual
highs. The Asian Religious Sensibility . . . is a must have for the
Filipino thinking man and woman who has grappled with a sense of God
and the other world. Viewed this way, this book is as compelling as it
is rewardingly complicated.
Volume Two will also soon be available.
Click here to order now.
UP PRESS FREE BOOKS ON FACEBOOK PROMO
PROMO MECHANICS
ELIGIBILITY
1. Open to all University of the Philippines Press facebook fans 18 years old and above.
2.
UP Press employees and their relatives up to second degree of
consanguinity or affinity are disqualified from joining the promotion.
SUBMISSION
1. Write your answer as a comment to the post of the week.
2. Deadline of submission is every Thursday at 1pm.
3. There will be five winners for each week.
4. Announcement of winners if every Friday.
5. Promo period is from February 7- March 4, 2011.
EVALUATION OF ENTRIES
1. Must meet all requirements stated above and the specific requirements indicated in the post of the week.
2. From the valid entries, five winners will be selected by drawing lots.
3.
UP Press reserves the right to disqualify any submission that it deems
inappropriate and/or does not meet contest requirement.
3. UP Press reserves the right to not select a winner if none of the entries received are judged to meet the criteria.
PRIZES
1. One book for each of the following titles will be given as prizes:
Favorite Arcellana Stories Bird lands, River Nights, and Other Melancholies Looking for the Philippines The Children’s Hour Volume I The Children’s Hour Volume II Sandaang Damit Best Filipino Stories: The NVM Gonzalez Awards, 2000-2005 Bagets: An Anthology of Filipino Young Adult Fiction Nine Supernatural Stories Bedtime Stories: Mga Dula sa Relasyong Sexual Tutubi, Tutubi, ‘Wag kang Magpahuli sa Mamang Salbahe Fourteen Love Stories Last Order sa Penguin Jolography Barriotic Punk The LIKHAAN book of Poetry and Fiction 1998 Ang Aklat LIKHAAN ng Tula at Maikling Kuwento 1998 Ang Aklat LIKHAAN ng Tula at Maikling Kuwento 1996 The LIKHAAN book of Poetry and Fiction 1997 Ang Aklat LIKHAAN ng Tula at Maikling Kuwento 1997
2. Lots will be drawn to determine title of book to be awarded to each winner.
3.
Winners must claim the book on or before March 31, 2011 at the UP Press
bookstore or at the UP Press Marketing Office and must present valid
identification.
ABAD LAUNCHES FICTION ANTHOLOGY
by Bernice P. Varona
Multi-awarded poet-critic-editor-university professor
emeritus Dr. Gemino Abad launched his newest anthology Underground Spirit:
Philippine Short Stories in English 1973-1989 Volumes I and II, on October 23
at the Solidaridad Bookshop, Manila. This anthology is a continuation of the
late Prof. Leopoldo Yabes’s three-volume anthology Philippine Short Stories
that covered the years between 1925 to 1955.
Abad plans to add
four more volumes to the anthologies, making them a six-part series. These
volumes will include Philippine stories in English from 1956 to 2008. The
titles for these forthcoming volumes are Underground Spirit and Hoard of
Thunder. These will be published by the UP Press.
“The stories deal with any number of themes: love and sex,
the lot of the poor, moral corruption, the supernatural etc. Our literature,
our works of imaginationan (and scholarship, too) in whatever language we write
from, create our sense of country; for our sense of country is how one imagines
her. That is my chief motive for the anthology series: one’s country is what
one’s imagination owes it allegiance to,” said Abad. “We are our own best
interpreters and critics of our country and our people, though of course we
might also learn from foreigners.”
The Philippine Center of the International PEN (Poets &
Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) through the generosity of National Artist
for Literature F. Sionil Jose and his wife Tessie made the book launch
possible. During the event, a dialogue between Abad and a oanel composed of
writers Charlson Ong, Elmer Ordonez, National Artist for Literature Bienvenido
Lumbera, Rony Diaz, and J. Wendell Capili was held.
Underground Spirit: Philippine Short Stories in English
1973-1989 Volumes I and II is available at the UP Press Bookstore, National
Bookstore, and Solidaridad Book Store.
Click here to order the anthologies.   UP Newsletter
PHILIPPINE CINEMA IN THE '90s, ACCORDING TO THE MANUNURIby Patrick F. Campos
Urian anthology revealingly documents the decade of the ‘dying cinema’-what Nic Tiongson calls ‘the worst of times.’ SOMETHING
HAS definitely changed between the 1990s, when “indie” was meaningless
to the popular imagination but meant hope for a dying cinema to a
subculture, and 2010, when “indie” means “art films” that today
outnumber mainstream movies in output and prestige.
It is
easy to forget the ’90s, when Philippine cinema underwent “the worst of
times.” It is a decade rendered nebulous for being sandwiched between
the “Golden Age” of the ’70s and 1980s and the current indie cinema.
What
is ironic is not only that the film industry had been declared
terminally ill during the decade of the Centennials of the Birth of
Cinema and of Philippine Nationalism, but also, precisely, that it is
so easy to forget the films of this decade. “The Urian
Anthology 1990-1999” (University of the Philippines Press, 562 pages),
a collection of articles, reviews and interviews by the Manunuri ng
Pelikulang Pilipino (MPP), remedies that. Introduced and edited by
Nicanor Tiongson, the book is the third in a series of richly
illustrated coffeetable books. Taken together, these volumes are an
indispensable compendium on cinema since the ’70s, accessible to
scholars and general readers alike. Read more
UP PRESS WINS
PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR AWARD, LAUNCHES TEN NEW TITLES
by Arvin Abejo Mangohig UP
Press emerged
victorious at the National Book Awards held at the Metropolitan Museum
of
Manila last November 13. The Press won the coveted Publisher of the
Year plum while Jerry Gracio’s Aves and The Life and Works of Marcelo
Adonay, Volume 1
by Elena Rivera Mirano, Corazon Canave
Dioquino, Melissa Corazon Velez Mantaring, Edna Marcil Martinez, Ma. Patricia
Brillantes-Silvestre, Iñigo Galing Vito, and Patricia Marion Lopez also won in
the Poetry and Arts Categories, respectively. Four other UP Press titles were
nominated. UP Press director Ma. Luisa Camagay graciously received the Publisher
of the Year award from eminent literary scholar Dr. Isagani Cruz.
The National Book
Awards is an annual event recognizing the best in Philippine publishing. The
winners were chosen jointly by the Manila Critics Circle and the National Book
Development Board's appointed judges. Click here for more information on the
winners.
The next week, the
UP Press launched the second batch of new titles for the year. They are:
 1.
The Urian Anthology 1990-1999
edited by Nicanor Tiongson
2.
Folk Poetry of Southern Leyte: A Collection of Secular and Religious
Folk Poetry by Placida Go-Saga
3.
El Folklore Filipino by Isabelo
de los Reyes
4.
Dangerous Liaisons by Ruth
Jordana Pison
5.
Ambagan 2009: Mga Salita Mula
sa Iba’t Ibang Wika sa Filipinas ed. by Galileo S. Zafra
6.
Alter(n)ations: The Art of
Imelda Cajipe Endaya by Flaudette May Datuin
7.
Balatik: Etnoastronomiya:
Kalangitan sa Kabihasnang Pilipino by Dante Ambrosio
8.
The Other
View: Literature, Culture, and Society (Volume I) by Elmer A. Ordoñez
9.
Below the Crying Mountain by
Ma. Criselda D. Yabes
10.
Fruit and Plantation
Crop Production in the Philippines
by Leon Namuco et al.
Click here for
more information on our newest titles. Click here to order.
The launch was
held on November 19 at the UP Executive House, graciously offered to the Press
by UP President Emerlinda Roman as venue. The launch was a fruitful, personal one, with the book
authors and some of their representatives sharing some of the memorable experiences
in writing the material. National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario
also attended.
REDEMPTION OF A DECADE IN PHILIPPINE CINEMABy Francis Joseph A. Cruz (The Philippine Star) MANILA,
Philippines - We are a sentimental people. We thrive in captured
memories: photographs of ourselves backdropped by famous locations in
lands we’ve visited, memorabilia from baptisms, weddings, and
anniversaries, essential souvenirs from personally important events in
our lives. We are constantly nagged by a fear that lest we have
tangible representation of points of reminiscence, we tend to forget.
And we do forget.
Our country’s history is haunted constantly
by recurring themes of failures, followed by great victories, followed
by forgetting, followed by failures, and so on. We establish monuments,
statues, and shrines. We name schools, streets and bridges by events or
people that would supposedly inspire us to remember.
We are a nation of forgetful people who constantly scrounge for objects to remember. That is our fault. That is also our virtue.
Perhaps
the biggest representation of this irony is our cinema. We are proud of
it, sure. We rejoice when a Filipino film wins awards overseas.
Unfortunately, jubilation is fleeting, if not totally hypocritical. We
only recognize our cinema when it receives foreign accolades. Without
them and quite horrifically, with them sometimes, our cinema is treated
like junk – both symbolically and literally – thrown in
un-airconditioned basements and warehouses to burn or rot.
We
remember the greats – the films of Brocka, Bernal, the two De Leons,
and Conde – yet we are completely unaware that almost all of their
films are inexistent in their original formats, most of their films are
available in substandard digital copies, and some of their films are
completely lost.
What we have left are descriptions,
perhaps two or three paragraphs at most, to have us remember these
films which we absolutely have no memories of.
Inasmuch as
preserving films are important, the act of chronicling films, whether
analytically or journalistically, is essential in recreating memories
out of nothing, caused by the failure of a people that views cinema as
a disposable thing of the present instead of a cultural stronghold.
It
is for this reason that Dr. Nicanor Tiongson should be commended for
coming up with The Urian Anthology 1990-1999 (UP Press 2010), a
handsome yet heavyset tome containing memories – mostly good with
sprinklings of some bad – of a contestable decade in Philippine cinema.
It is an elegant book. Its cover, a sepia-hued collage of
several scenes from films, mostly historical and involving national
heroes portrayed by different actors and actresses, seduces the
onlooker to reminisce the decade when glamorous historical epics
apologized for the numerous titillating showcases and brash comedies
that populated movie houses.
The decade, described by
Tiongson as the “best of times, the worst of times,” saw Philippine
commercial cinema at its lowest, where studios literally and
figuratively prostituted itself and its talents to battle imports. Yet
the decade also showed glimmers of excellence, where filmmakers and
even studios experimented and, in turn, paved the way for the seeds of
what was to come the next decade.
A quick skim through the
pages reflects the differing facets that defined the decade. Stills
from the numerous films adorn the margins of the book, detailing the
highs and lows of cinema, where the same actors played national heroes
and rapists, the same actresses portrayed dignified women and
prostitutes.
The reviews, selected by Tiongson from the
Manunuri’s own roster of critics ranging from the enlightening like
Hammy Sotto to the populists like Butch Francisco, are important
because most of them reflect the critical reaction during the time of
the film’s release, approximating, at least to the current reader, how
a film was over-appraised or under-appraised.
The various
articles, academically rationalizing the pleasant and unpleasant
movements and genres that emerged out of the dire economic circumstance
of the industry, are springboards for discourse.
The
interviews of the decade’s defining filmmakers are also interesting,
especially those of filmmakers who continue to work today who might
have sacrificed some of the artistry they preach about to survive the
dehumanizing rigors of present-day commercial filmmaking.
For
whatever its worth, for however critics and filmmakers acknowledge it
now, the decade that Tiongson’s indispensible labor of love gives focus
to, as exemplified by the collection of articles that seeks not to
blindly honor but only to document the decade that passed, is an
amalgam of colors, themes, moralities, and levels of artistry that
Philippine cinema is evolving into.
Little by little, as a
subtle thread of a narrative develops as Tiongson’s carefully conceived
book closes to a finish with filmographies of the decade, we
acknowledge that Philippine cinema lives – through the good times and
the bad.
Personalities pass. Directors retire. Studios fold.
Cinema continues, constantly reinventing itself, constantly changing.
The Urian Anthology 1990-1991 is the suitable memoir for this nation of
forgetful filmgoers to remember that cinema is of value and should be
valued.
I just hope that we do not become content with
articles and pictures, and start watching these films, and if they are
unavailable because of reasons beyond our control, start clamoring the
government for a film archive to save us from the dangers of forgetting.
philstar.com
TWO UP PRESS TITLES WIN AT THE GINTONG AKLAT AWARDS
Compendium
of the Economically Important Seashells in Panay, Philippines by
Liberato Laureta and Pag-aklas/Pagbaklas/Pagbagtas by Rolando Tolentino
won at the prestigious Gintong Aklat Awards.
The biennial
Gintong Aklat Awards, mounted by the Book Development Association of
the Philippines (BDAP) and the National Book Development Board, was
held at the recently concluded Manila International Book Fair, the
paramount event for the Philippine book industry.
Established in
1981, the Gintong Aklat Awards recognizes books that are judged for
all-around excellence in book manufacture and design, writing, and
editing. Categories are Literature (English and Filipino), Social
Science, Natural Science, Arts and Culture, Inspirational and Culinary.
For 2010, twelve finalists and nine winners were chosen among 268 entries.
Pag-aklas
… is a collection of essays wherein Tolentino trains his critical eye
on everything from McDonald’s to political violence, deftly analyzing
events while offering a groundedness only a true social scholar can
deliver. Tolentino is a respected writer and is currently the dean of
the College of Mass Communication in UP Diliman.
Compendium …
has more than three hundred full color photographs, providing vivid and
adroit information on seashells in the Philippines. The unique
combination of photographs and the comprehensive and concise accounts
of the different species makes the book valuable material for students
and researchers alike. Laureta is a researcher and faculty member of
the College of Fishers and Ocean Sciences, UP Visayas. He received his
doctor’s degree from the University of Liverpool, Great Britain. He is
a lifetime member of the Malacological Society of the Philippines.
Click here to order the books.
with reports from mb.com.ph
SIX UP PRESS TITLES NOMINATED IN 2010 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS
by Arvin Abejo Mangohig
Six titles from the UP Press were honored with nominations
in the 2010 National Book Awards. Leading the nominees is Bilanggo: Life as a Political Prisoner in the
Philippines, 1952-1962 by William J. Pomeroy in the Nonfiction Prose category.
Gawad Likhaan winners Aves by Jerry B. Gracio and Bird
Lands, River Nights and Other Melancholies by Jose Marte A. Abueg are
co-nominees in the Poetry category.
For the Art category [Alfonso T. Ongpin Prize for Best Book
on Art], The Life and Works of Marcelo Adonay, Volume 1 by Elena Rivera Mirano, Corazon Canave Dioquino,
Melissa Corazon Velez Mantaring, Edna Marcil Martinez, Ma. Patricia
Brillantes-Silvestre, Iñigo Galing Vito, and Patricia Marion Lopez and A Satire
of Two Nations: Exploring Images of the
Japanese in Philippine Political Cartoons, Helen Yu-Rivera are also
co-nominees.
Finally, Kalusugang Pampubliko sa Kolonyal na Maynila,
1898-1918: Heographiya, Medisina, Kasaysayan by Ronaldo B. Mactal is a nominee
for the Social Sciences category.
Winners will be announced on November 13 at The Metropolitan
Museum of Manila. Below is the full list of nominees:
LITERARY DIVISION
Fiction [Juan C. Laya Prize for Best Novel in a Philippine
Language & Juan C. Laya Prize forBest Novel in a Foreign Language]
Flames and Other Stories, Angelo R. Lacuesta (Anvil
Publishing)
The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata, Gina Apostol
(Anvil Publishing)
Sibago, Abdon M. Balde Jr. (University of Santo Tomas
Publishing House)
Unang Ulan ng Mayo, Ellen Sicat (Anvil Publishing)
LiteraryCriticism/Literary History
Pungsod Damming the Nation:
Region/Nation and the Global Order in Contemporary West Visayan
Literature, Isidoro M. Cruz (University of San Agustin Publishing House)
Nonfiction Prose
Bilanggo: Life as a
Political Prisoner in the Philippines, 1952-1962, William J. Pomeroy
(University of the Philippines Press)
The Drama of It: A
Life on Film and Theater, Daisy Hontiveros Avellana (Anvil Publishing)
Wash: Only a
Bookkeeper, A Biography of Washington Z. Sycip,
Jose Y. Dalisay Jr. (SGV Foundation)
Graphic Literature
Trese: Mass Murders, Ferdinand-Benedict G. Tan and Jonathan
A. Baldisimo (Visprint)
El Indio A Graphic Novel by Francisco V. Coching (Vibal
Foundation)
Poetry
Aves, Jerry B. Gracio (University of the Philippines Press)
Bird Lands, River Nights and Other Melancholies, Jose Marte
A. Abueg (University of the Philippines Press)
The Fashionista’s Book of Enlightenment, Carlomar Archangel
Daoana (DBW)
The Highest Hiding Place:
Poems, Lawrence Lacambra Ypil (Ateneo de Manila University Press)
NON-LITERARY DIVISION
Professions
The Law and Practice on Philippine Corporate Governance,
Cesar L. Villanueva (Holy Angel University)
Social Sciences
Bakwit: The Power of
the Displaced, Jose Jowel Canuday (Ateneo De Manila University Press)
Kalusugang Pampubliko sa Kolonyal na Maynila, 1898-1918:
Heographiya, Medisina, Kasaysayan, Ronaldo B. Mactal (University of the
Philippines Press)
Art [Alfonso T. Ongpin Prize for Best Book on Art]
The Life and Works of Marcelo Adonay, Volume 1, Elena Rivera Mirano, Corazon Canave Dioquino,
Melissa Corazon Velez Mantaring, Edna Marcil Martinez, Ma. Patricia
Brillantes-Silvestre, Iñigo Galing Vito, and Patricia Marion Lopez (University
of thePhilippines Press)
A Satire of Two Nations:
Exploring Images of the Japanese in Philippine Political Cartoons, Helen
Yu-Rivera (University of thePhilippines Press)
Design
Mapping the
Philippines: The Spanish Period, Felix
Mago Miguel, desinger (Rural Empowerment Assistance and Development Foundation)
Palaspas: An Appreciation of Palm Leaf Art in the
Philippines, Karl Fredrick M. Castro, designer (Ateneo de Manila University
Press)
Palawan: Land of Blessing, Felix Mago Miguel, designer
(Provincial Government of Palawan)
A Sudden Rush
of Genius, Mandy Cabral, designer (Art Quest World Wide)
Mga Tambay sa
Tabi-Tabi: Creatures of Philippine
Folklore, Mela Advincula, Robbie Bautista, Liza Flores, and Leo Alvarado,
designers (Anvil Publishing)
STAR-STUDDED URIAN ANTHOLOGY BOOK LAUNCHING AT THE UP
DILIMAN
by Arvin Abejo Mangohig
Film directors, critics, and stars descended on Balay
Kalinaw, UP Diliman last night for the launch of the Urian Anthology 1990-1999
introduced, compiled, and edited by Nicanor Tiongson. The third anthology in
the Urian series, the book gathers together the reviews of film critics about
every Filipino film that was released within that decade and over 1,000
photographs and film stills. It also boasts of never-before-published
interviews and photo-portraits of some of the most important directors the
country has ever produced.
Present at the launch were National Artist for Film Eddie
Romero and National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera. Also present were
film directors Mel Chionglo, Joel Lamangan, Brillante Mendoza, and Gil Portes.
Actress/scriptwriters Bibeth Orteza and Raquel Villavicencio graced the event
while the stately Armida Siguion Reyna congratulated Nick Tiongson for a job
well done. Richard Gomez, Joel Torre, and Ricky Davao were also spotted
purchasing copies of the book (and being mobbed by fans).
Film critic Eli Guieb offered a concise critique of the
book. UP Diliman Chancellor Sergio Cao commended Tiongson for his comprehensive
efforts in archiving Filipino film while UP Press director Ma. Luisa Camagay
was only too happy to assist him in having the hefty book see print. College of
Mass Communications Dean Roland Tolentino assisted Tiongson in handing out
copies to the film critics whose reviews made the book possible. The UP Singing
Ambassadors ably provided the night’s entertainment with classic theme songs
from the movies like “Bituing Walang Ningning” and “Sana’y Maulit Muli.”
The Urian Anthology 1990-1999 is available at the UP Press
Bookstore, UP Diliman (near the College of Architecture and the police
station). Click here to order the book.
UP PRESS AUTHORS WIN AT THE 60TH PALANCA AWARDS
by Arvin Abejo Mangohig
UP
Press authors were among the winners of the 60th Palanca Awards, whose
awarding rites were held this September at the Peninsula Manila Hotel
in Makati. The Palancas are the most prestigious and most comprehensive
award-giving body for literature in the country. Its efforts in
promoting the growth of literature have been recognized by the Cultural
Center of the Philippines, the Manila Critics Circle, the Komisyon sa
Wikang Filipino, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) among others.
Merlie Alunan won
first prize for her English poetry entry Tales of the Spiderwoman. Her
Selected Poems was published by the UP Press in 2004.
Jerry
Gracio won second place for his Dulang Pampelikula entry Magdamag. He
has two books bearing the UP Press imprint: Apokripos (2006) and Aves
(2010), which was the winner of the Gawad Likhaan: the UP Centennial
Literary Award.
Romulo Baquiran won second place for his Tula
entry Parokya. He is the author of Onyx (2003), which won the National
Book Award for Poetry.
Last but not least, Rommel Rodriguez won
first place for his Maikling Kwento entry Toxic. He is the co-author of
Tabi-tabi sa Pagsasantabi, also published in 2003. Click here to order the books of these award-winning authors.
UP PRESS GOES TO THE MIBFThe University of
the Philippines Press (UPP) will be joining the Manila International
Book Fair on September 15-19, 2010 at the SMX Convention Center, Mall
of Asia.
Come and visit the UPP booth. Available for sale
are our renowned publications, as well as the titles recently launched
by the UPP in the first half of 2010 which include Muling-Pagkatha sa
Ating Bansa by Virgilio S. Almario, Commend Contend/Beyond Extensions
by Edith L. Tiempo, Underground Spirit: Philippine Short Stories in
English 1973 to 1989, Volumes I and II by Gèmino Abad, Agaw-dilim,
Agaw-liwanag by Lualhati Milan Abreu, Elementary Statistics by Josefina
Almeda, et al., Favorite Arcellana Stories by Emerenciana Y. Arcellana
(Ed.), Frontier Constitutions by John D. Blanco, Lost and Found and
Other Essays by Rica Bolipata-Santos, Sundays in Manila by Robert H.
Boyer, Siglo: A Hundred Years of the PGH in the Service of the Filipino
People by Jose Luis J. Danguilan, M.D., et al., UP Diliman: Home and
Campus by Narita Gonzalez and Gerardo Los Baños (Eds.), The Sky Over
Dimas by Vicente Garcia Groyon, Bibliography of Filipino Novels by
Patricia May Jurilla, Poultry Production in the Tropics by Angel L.
Lambio (Ed.), UP in the Time of People Power by Ferdinand Llanes (Ed.),
The Forest by William Pomeroy, Teaching and Learning in the Health
Sciences by Erlyn A. Sana (Ed.), The Muslim South and Beyond by Samuel
K. Tan, The Americanization of Manila by Cristina E. Torres and
Sarena’s Story by Criselda Yabes.
For 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 TO LAUNCH TWO NEW BOOKSThe
UP Press will be launching Frontier Constitutions by John D. Blanco on
August 24, 2010, 2:30 pm at the Faculty Center, UP Diliman Campus. The
book was launched last July 23, along with nineteen more titles. Frontier Constitutions tackles everything from Jose Rizal's
Noli me tangere to Balagtas's metrical romance. Frontier
Consitutions also takes on Christianity as a colonial/colonizing power. Blanco
writes: "The exemption of religious authorities from laws under the
monarch's rule ... reflected the conviction that the monarchy itself
was an instrument of a higher will and that, in cases of emergency or
expediency, this higher will had to be upheld by the spritual power and
its direct earthly representatives, not the monarch."
Blanco
teaches Latin American, Philippine, and US comparative literature and
cultural studies at the University of California, San Diego. In
addition to Frontier Constitutions, he has published essays examining
colonial and postcolonial histories and cultures. His current research
examines the rise of divergent worldviews and ethical dispositions in
the Americas and the Philippines during the sixteenth and seventeeth
centuries.
Meanwhile,
The Urian Anthology 1990-1999 edited by Nicanor G. Tiongson will be
launched on September 15, 2010, 5:00 pm at the Balay Kalinaw, UP
Diliman Campus. The Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino has collected
its members' representative film reviews in a series of anthologies,
the latest of which is this volume. It is a richly illustrated volume
which encourages further research and study of Filipino cinema.
Published by the UP Press and with the support of the Film Development
Council of the Philippines, The Urian Anthology is a must have for
scholars and cineastes everywhere. Tiongson is a well-known
critic and academician. He is a former dean of the College of Mass
Communications, UP Diliman and was artistic director of the Cultural
Center of the Philippines.
UP PRESS REPRINTS TWO AWARD-WINNING BOOKS
As part of its 2010 titles, the UP Press has reprinted
Beyond, Extensions/Commend Contend by National Artist Edith Tiempo and The Sky
over Dimas by Vicente Garcia Groyon.
Beyond, Extensions is paired with Tiempo’s newest poetry collection:
Commend
Contend. In his introduction, poet Alfred Yuson praises the poems in
Commend Contend for their
wizened bounty and magnanimity. Gemino Abad wrote the introduction for
Beyond, Extensions in 1993 and underlined her invigorating presence in
Philippine literature in English. The two collections offer a
fascinating insight
to the growth and artistic trajectory of one of the Philippines’ most
enduring
women writers.
Meanwhile, Dimas has won the Grand Prize for the Novel, Don
Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, the Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book Award, and
the Manila Critics Circle National Book Award. The Sunday Inquirer Magazine
called it “a gripping, sleek read.” Ficitonist and critic Rosario Cruz Lucero
agreed and says that the novel is an “ambitious, high-wire act . . . written in
consistently flawless and elegant prose.”
The UP Press has also published Groyon’s collection of short
stories, On Cursed Ground and Other Stories. Groyon teaches at De La Salle
University-Manila.
Tiempo is the lone female National Artist for Literature.
She is a multi-awarded poet and fictionist who conducts the famed Silliman
Writers Workshop in Dumaguete City with her husband. Among her other works are A
Blade of Fern, 1978, The Native Coast, 1979, and The Alien Corn, 1992; the
poetry collections, The Tracts of Babylon and Other Poems, 1966, and The
Charmer's Box and Other Poems, 1993; and the short story collection Abide
Joshua, and Other Stories, 1964.
Click here to order the books.
THE UP PRESS BOOKSTORE HAS MOVED
The UP Press Balay Kalinaw Bookstore has
moved to the UPP main office located at E. delos Santos Street, UP
Diliman campus near the College of Architecture and the police station.
It
can be accessed directly by the Toki jeepney route; riders of the Ikot
jeeps can get off at the College of Fine Arts and walk straight through
to Lakandula Street. Those coming from Philcoa can get off at the first
waiting shed of the Academic Oval and walk to the right for a few
hundred meters.
See the map here.Thank you for your continued patronage.
PAGLULUNSAD 2010: UNANG YUGTO
The
University of the Philippines Press will be launching twenty-one new
titles for the first half of the year 2010. The event, dubbed
Paglulunsad 2010: Unang Yugto, will be held on July 23, 2010, 5:00 PM
at the Balay Kalinaw located at Guerrero corner Dagohoy Streets, UP
Diliman, Quezon City.
The authors and their titles are:
Prof. Virgilio S. Almario
Muling-Pagkatha sa
Ating Bansa
Dr. Robert H. Boyer
Sundays in Manila
Mrs. Narita Gonzalez
Prof. Gerardo Los Baños
UP Diliman: Home and
Campus
Prof. Vicente Garcia Groyon
The Sky Over Dimas
Dr. Edith L. Tiempo
Commend Contend
Dr. Cristina E. Torres
Americanization of Manila
Ms. Criselda Yabes
Sarena’s Story
Ms. Lualhati Milan Abreu
Agaw-dilim,
Agaw-liwanag
Dr. Emerenciana Y. Arcellana
Favorite Arcellana
Stories
Dr. Ferdinand Llanes
UP in the Time of
People Power
Dr. Jose Luis Danguilan, Dr. Rafael Bundoc, Mr. Jerome Ong,
Dr. Phillip Aristotle Hermida
Siglo: A Hundred Years
of the PGH in the Service of the Filipino People
Dr. John D. Blanco
Frontier Constitutions
Dr. Gémino Abad
Underground Spirit:
Philippine Short Stories in English 1973-1989, Volume I, 1973 to 1982
Underground Spirit:
Philippine Short Stories in English 1973-1989, Volume II, 1983 to 1989
Dr. Erlyn A. Sana
Teaching and Learning
in the Health Sciences
Rica Bolipata-Santos
Lost and Found and
Other Essays
William Pomeroy
The Forest
Dr. Samuel K. Tan
The Muslim South and
Beyond
Dr. Angel L. Lambio
Poultry Production in
the Tropics
Dr. Patricia May Jurilla
Bibliography of
Filipino Novels
Prof. Josefina Venegas Almeda
Prof. Therese Garcia Capistrano
Prof. Genelyn Ma. Ferry Sarte
Elementary Statistics
For
inquiries regarding the book launch, contact Cheenee at (02) 9266642 /
press@up.edu.ph or visit our website at http://uppress.com.ph.
FRONTIER CONSTITUTIONS BY JOHN D. BLANCO NOW AVAILABLE
Frontier
Constitutions: Christianity and Colonial Empire in the
Nineteenth-Century Philippines by scholar John D. Blanco is now
available. Part of the Asia Pacific Modern series, Frontier
Constitutions examines Christianity and colonialism, taking "a turn
away from the strictly historiographic detailing of dates and events
into cultural exploration and configuration," writes National Artist
Bienvenido L. Lumbera. He continues: "The book explains the complex
impact of Spanish hegemony on the consciousness of the native
populace, using art works and litetrature as foundation of insights
..." Lumbera hails Blanco as "a major cultural historian whose
innovative practice will profitably light the path of young scholars of
the future."
The book tackles everything from Jose Rizal's
Noli me tangere to Balagtas's metrical romance. Frontier
Consitutions also takes on Christianity as a colonial/colonizing power. Blanco
writes: "The exemption of religious authorities from laws under the
monarch's rule ... reflected the conviction that the monarchy itself
was an instrument of a higher will and that, in cases of emergency or
expediency, this higher will had to be upheld by the spritual power and
its direct earthly representatives, not the monarch."
Blanco
teaches Latin American, Philippine, and US comparative literature and
cultural studies at the University of California, San Diego. In
addition to Frontier Constitutions, he has published essays examining
colonial and postcolonial histories and cultures. His current research
examines the rise of divergent worldviews and ethical dispositions in
the Americas and the Philippines during the sixteenth and seventeeth
centuries.
UP PRESS GOES TO ABAP BOOK FAIR THIS JULY
The
University of the Philippines Press (UPP) will be joining the 14th
Philippine Academic Book Fair on July 6-10, 2010 at SM Megamall.
Come
and visit the UP Press booth. Available for sale are our renowned
publications, as well as the titles launched by the UPP for the first
half of 2010 which include: Muling-Pagkatha sa Ating Bansa by Virgilio
S. Almario, Sundays in Manila by Robert H. Boyer, UP Diliman: Home and
Campus by Narita Gonzalez and Gerardo Los Baños (Eds.), The Sky Over
Dimas by Vicente Garcia Groyon, Commend Contend by Edith L. Tiempo,
Americanization of Manila by Cristina E. Torres, Sarena's Story by
Criselda Yabes, Agaw-dilim, Agaw-liwanag by Lualhati Milan Abreu,
Favorite Arcellana Stories by Emerenciana Y. Arcellana (Ed.), and UP in
the Time of People Power by Ferdinand Llanes.
See you there!
For
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.
A FEAST OF MEMORIES
by Jose Y. Dalisay Jr.
I
was delighted to receive, recently, advance copies of two new books
soon to be launched by the University of the Philippines Press—UP
Diliman: Home and Campus, edited by Narita M. Gonzalez and Gerardo T.
Los Baños, and Sundays in Manila by Robert H. Boyer. That all these
people are known to me is a pleasant bonus— Narita is the widow of our
fellow provinciano and mentor NVM Gonzalez, and Beng’s teacher; Gerry
was my student and now my colleague; and Bob Boyer taught with our
department and has since been a great friend—but the books themselves
are the prize.
Narita’s book (I call it Narita’s, although Gerry
ably co-edited it, because the memories are mostly hers and her
generation’s) is a compilation of reminiscences and reflections about
life in what’s often been called the “Republic of Diliman,” a nearly
self-contained “communiversity” as Narita and her fellow pioneers call
it. The term “pioneer” itself holds a special meaning in the context of
Diliman, that wooded, grassy stretch of land on the fringe of the
postwar country’s brand-new capital, still occupied in 1948 by the US
Army’s General Records Department, with their Quonset huts and barracks
that would become UP’s trademark over the next half-century. The
pioneers were the first families to move into the new campus—often into
a sawali cottage before graduating to a “permanent house.”
The
great academic families of UP roll off the tongue in this fond
memoir—not just the Gonzalezes, but the Arcellanas, the Lagmays, the
Corpuzes, the Bonifacios, the Lesacas, the Monsods, the Nemenzos, the
Macedas, the Mirandas, the Hidalgos, the Encarnacions, and the Abuevas,
among many others. If, as they say, it takes a village to raise a
child, it soon dawns on the reader that it takes a community like
Diliman—as it was in the ‘50s and ‘60s, with family and school
practically indistinguishable from one another—to raise a scholar. In
Narita’s book—which also features the recollections of dozens of other
contributors—the babies who are born and the children who break their
bones climbing mango trees soon become professors themselves, after a
rebellious diversion or two, and take over their parents’ houses in the
closest thing the staunchly democratic UP has to a dynastic tradition.
I
was never a member of the UP Student Catholic Action nor a fan of the
fabled Fr. John Delaney—by the time I came to Diliman, the winds had
turned firmly leftward—but it’s hard not to share the wonderment of the
characters in this memory of Narita’s, about the genesis of a landmark:
“One
evening, during one of those scheduled meals in Area 17, in the home of
the Abueva brothers—Billy, Teddy, and Pepe—Father Delaney met an
architect. It was quite a fortuitous event. The architect was Leandro
Locsin, who was only twenty-six at that time.
“Thirty years
later, Pepe Abueva would be UP president and Billy a National Artist,
an honor Leandro Locsin would also win for himself. ‘I was the
architect Father Delaney was looking for,’ Locsin would recall from
that evening. The concept of a church-in-the-round was exactly what
Father Delaney wanted.
“Locsin presented a model of this
church to Father Delaney. One afternoon, after cleaning up the old
chapel, counting host for the next Mass and like chores, Father Delaney
called in some ‘sacristines’ and his two favorite grade school
volunteers, Evelyn Lesaca and Selma Gonzalez. Not too long ago he'd
given the two girls paper dolls, lifted them off the ground in his arms
when they were light. Little did he know that they might have something
to say about the model of the church-in-the-round. Like the
sacristines, the two girls thought the church-in-the-round was a
far-fetched dream. ‘A flying saucer of a church’ was the way the girls
described it, to tease Father Delaney. They had been so used to the
sawali chapel and had been comfortable with it, but now here was this
dome model, suggesting a church that not only would look big, solid,
and permanent but would also cost a great deal of money.”
Bob
Boyer’s book is another kind of treat altogether, although much of it
also takes place in the groves of Diliman. Dr. Boyer was seven when the
War broke out—“playing war games with my older brothers, reenacting the
landings at Leyte Gulf and Lingayen Gulf.” Thus began a lifelong
interest in the Philippines, now culminating with Sundays in Manila.
I
must confess, with some shame, that I and my wife Beng appear with
inordinate frequency in Bob’s book; I suppose you could say that we,
among many others, hosted Bob during his many visits to the
Philippines, a favor he returned when I went to his college in
Wisconsin a few years ago as an exchange professor. When Bob asked me
to write the blurb for his book, I was only too happy to contribute
these words:
“Bob Boyer offers affectionate—often
intimate—portraits of Filipino life and culture, formed over many
visits to a country that many if not most Americans know only in the
broadest terms: as a staunch ally in the Pacific and its other wars, as
the rack of Imelda’s shoes, and as the home of Manny Pacquiao. Bob
sharpens that picture with factual detail, but also softens the
resulting image of the Filipino with his sympathy and understanding.
Whether he’s riding a jeepney, sipping iced tea at the Chocolate Kiss,
exploring the mysteries of Quiapo and Mt. Banahaw, or marching up
Bataan and Corregidor, Dr. Boyer invariably delights and inevitably
instructs; sometimes—like all good teachers do, but ever so gently—Bob
disturbs and critiques us with his observations. It’s hard to imagine
how a visitor from the snowbound American Midwest could connect so well
with sun-baked Pinoys, but Bob Boyer did—and does again, through this
eminently enjoyable book.”
Here’s Bob musing on that phenomenon
we Pinoys all know about, “Filipino time”: “Unaccountably, between 1:05
p.m. and 1:12 p.m., more than fifty people had materialized— late and
together. I was baffled by this synchronized tardiness, except for
Tita. Why was Tita not in tune with the others? Perhaps even Filipinos,
in certain circumstances, such as a sabbatical leave, misjudge
‘Filipino Time.’ I was still further surprised later that afternoon to
discover that what I had thought was the entire photo session was only
the beginning. I went to lunch after the session in the reading room,
unaware that there were two more sets of pictures taken, one in front
of the Faculty Center and one across the road from it, with tropical
shrubbery as backdrop. Cora had sent a graduate student to look for me
when they noticed my absence, but I had apparently already left. When I
later asked a colleague how he knew about the other sites, he said, ‘I
followed the photographer.’
“So not only were my colleagues
synchronized in their (late) time of arrival. All fifty-some, including
Tita this time, were inexplicably in communication about the
unannounced multiple sites. They clearly wanted to include me, but
somehow, despite their attempts and my watchfulness, I missed the less
overt cues of ‘Filipino Time,’ the ones that are so natural to
Filipinos that they do not think to mention them.
“Speaking of
mending one’s ways, I had to change some of my own behavior because of
student politeness. I have the habit, after class has ended and I have
gathered up my notes, of chatting with one or more of the students
still lingering in the front rows. This is a way of getting better
acquainted with students, but I had to eliminate such after-class chats
at UP. As soon as the other students heard my voice, they all,
including a few on their way out the door, promptly returned to their
places to pay attention.”
It’s always interesting to see how others see us, because it gives us another way of seeing others—and, of course, ourselves.
UP
Diliman: Home and Campus will be launched June 25, 3 pm, at the UP
Executive House, while Sundays in Manila will be launched July 2, 3 pm,
at the Sulod Tagibanwa on the 4th floor of the UP Faculty Center. See
you there!
UP PRESS TO LAUNCH NEW ALMARIO BOOK
The
UP Press and the College of Arts and Letters, UP Diliman, are proud to
host "Panayam Bulawan" by CSSP Dean Zosimo Lee and the book launching
of Muling-Pagkatha sa Ating Bansa; O Bakit Pinakamahabang Tulay sa
Buong Mundo ang Tulay Calumpit by National Artist for Literature
Virgilio S. Almario. This will be on March 5 at the C.M. Recto Hall at
the Bulwagang Rizal (beside Palma Hall). The double event will start at
2 p.m.
The blurb goes: Bakit pinakamahabàng tulay sa buong mundo ang Tulay Calumpit? Ang
sagot: “Dahil pagtawid mo mula sa Calumpit, Bulacan, at may dalá kang
itlog, pagdatíng mo sa kabilâ sa Apalit, Pampanga, ang itlog mo ay
‘ebon’ na.” “Itinatanghal ng palaisipang-bayang ito,” ayon
sa may-akda, “ang mga espasyong nakapagitan at naghihiwalay sa mga
bayan, mga lalawigan, mga rehiyon, at mga pulo sa buong Filipinas.”
Sa kalipunang ito ng mga sanaysay hinggil sa nasyonalismo,
kasaysayan, edukasyon, wika, at panitikan, nagmumungkahi ang Pambansang
Alagad ng Sining kung paano lilikha ng mga bagong tulay sa pagbuo ng
pambansang kultura na higit na magbibigkis sa bayan at magpapaigting ng
ating pagkabansa. Buyers will enjoy a 20 percent discount off the
retail price and will have the honor of meeting the prolific National
Artist Almario. The public is cordially invited.
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 The Arcellana clan is inviting literature lovers to the book launch of
Regarding Franz, edited by Dr. Elizabeth Arcellana-Nuqui and Prof.
Lydia Rodriguez-Arcellana and published by the University of the
Philippines Press.
The
volume is a rich collection of memories of National Artist Franz
Arcellana from colleagues like fellow National Artists Nick Joaquin and
Virgilio Almario; writer-friends like Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo,
Jose Y. Dalisay Jr., and Gemino Abad; former students; and family
members as well, including a loving tribute from his widow Dr.
Emerenciana Arcellana. Regarding Franz also features poems written for
Franz, incisive interviews, and photographs provided by the
Arcellana family.
The book is a solid testament to the art and
life of one of the most beloved National Artists and perhaps one of the
most influential fictionists the country has ever produced, according
to novelist Charlson Ong. Anecdotes of generosity and flashes of his
personality provide glimpses into Arcellana, the founding director of
the UP Creative Writing Center (now Institute), the man and the artist.
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
UP Press to join ALBASA Book Sale in Cebu
The University of
the Philippines Press will be joining the book fair at the Academic Libraries
Book Acquisition Systems Inc (ALBASA Inc) 36th Annual General
Assembly together with other publishers and book dealers on May 19-21 at the Cebu Grand Convention Center, Banilad, Cebu City
Come and visit the University of
the Philippines Press booth. Available for sale are our renowned publications, as
well as titles included in the UPP Centennial Publications launched last
December 2008.
For inquiries
regarding the event, please call the ALBASA office at (032) 2540691. You may
also call the University of the Philippines Press at (02) 926-6642.
Visit ALBASA's website at http://www.albasainc.org/.
Animal breeding book among 100 launched by UP Press
Animal
Breeding Principles and Practice in the Philippine Context was one of
100 titles launched by the UP Press on Dec. 12 at the Malcolm Hall in
UP Diliman to showcase UP’s rich contribution to Philippine literature
and scholarship in the humanities and the sciences. Dr. Orville Bondoc,
book author, is a professor in animal breeding and genetics at the
CA-Animal and Dairy Sciences Cluster. The book discusses
principles of genetics with emphasis on breeding goals and procedures
to improve economically important traits in animal breeding
populations. The book highlights results of local animal breeding
research helpful in designing animal breeding strategies for major farm
animal species. UP President Emerlinda R. Roman said that
the authors’ work “is not always as noticed or as high profile (as
other activities that were held to mark the UP Centennial) but is more
representative of what UP as a university stands for. In the end, the
measure of a university’s strength is the respect accorded its scholars
and artists. The book will be available by the second half of the year.
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