In this week’s literary round-up, we’re bringing coverage from the myriad intrigues of world literature, from storybooks highlighting Indigenous narratives to diasporic Romanian writers, romance writing to exiled heroes. Read on to find out more!
MARGENTO, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Spain and Romania
As the Romanian literary scene is gearing up for the twenty-ninth edition of Gaudeamus book fair, organized by Radio Romania in Bucharest from December 7 through the 11, the literary diaspora is both very active and a hot topic in and of itself. A one-day seminar, entitled “European Cultural Representations of Romanian Migration and Exiles” took place at the Romanian Centre, Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) last week. Presentations and roundtables on highlights from the Romanian diaspora across the Western world—such as religious studies international icon and fiction writer Mircea Eliade, Romanian-Spanish comparative literature pioneer Alexandre [Alejandro] Cioranescu, and former Asymptote contributor Matéi Visniec—were complemented by excursuses into the work and lives of personalities relevant to both Romanian and Spanish literatures. Former Asymptote contributor Felix Nicolau, Director of the Romanian Centre and Romanian Language and Literature Lecturer, gave a talk about Alexandru Busuioceanu: a poet, art historian, and essayist credited for establishing Romanian as an academic subject at UCM back in the mid-twentieth century, after founding the UCM Romanian Centre in 1943.
Another major name of the diaspora is Paul Goma, renowned opponent of Ceaușescu’s regime and dissident fiction writer forced into exile (to Paris, France) in the late 1970s, after having survived numerous attempts on his life staged by the Romanian communist secret police or their accessories—only to die from COVID in 2020. A hot-off-the-press book dedicated to the dissident hero by historian, poet, essayist, and Goma scholar Flori Balanescu, Paul Goma: Conștiință istorică și conștiință literară [Historical Conscience, Literary Conscience], is to be launched at Gaudeamus in a week’s time, and it has already grabbed considerable attention on social media. Awarded poet and fiction writer O. Nimigean, himself a Parisian exile, commented on the text as a breakthrough release and expressed his impatience to read the sequel—an already planned book he indirectly disclosed as having insider knowledge on. Such updates can only further stir interest—if not inevitable kerfuffle—since the (albeit rare) publications about Goma expose, just as the author’s own novels did, the collaborationism under communism of certain established literati or public figures: an implication to which the latter usually retort with accusations of anti-semitism.
Alton Melvar M Dapanas, Editor-at-Large, reporting from the Philippines
In the months of September and October, the Philippines witnessed several events that foregrounded its independent publishing scene. Aklat Mirasol, a women-led publisher for children and young adults, kicked off with three storybooks about the Indigenous Peoples (IP) communities in Mindoro and Mindanao. Their titles, consisting of Rowena Festin’s Ako si Dumay Gawid, Hanunuo Mangyan [I am Dumay Gawid, a Hanunuo Mangyan] illustrated by Ma. Victoria Esquillo, which acquaints young readers with Mangyan culture from its weaving tradition to its writing system; Carla Mortel Baricaua’s Narinig Mo Na Ba Ang Agong? [Have You Heard Of The Agong?] with illustrations by Ginella Solis, previously translated into the Manobo and Binisayâ languages for North Cotabato nursery schools; and Pia Perez’ Nasa Arakan ang Puso [The Heart is in Arakan], illustrated by Bayani Olaguer, a retold story of a beloved community figure.
Other indie presses that participated under The Indie Publishers Collab PH at the latterly held Manila International Book Fair include, among others, Kasingkasing Press (Iloilo), Aklat Ulagad (Catanduanes), Alubat Publishing (Zambales), 8Letters (Cebu), and Pawikan Press—which focuses on books about Mindanao and Palawan.
In Dumaguete, home to Asia’s oldest and longest-running writing workshop, Lomboy Press announced the publication of Andres Haramyangan’s katapusan sang ting-init / summer’s end, a trilingual chapbook of poetry in Hiligaynon, Binisayâ, and English, which was also launched at the ILGA Asia Queer Arts Festival in Vietnam. In Naga City in the Bikol region, bookseller Savage Mind released excerpts from John Sherwin Acampado’s graphic illustrations of Karel Čapek’s Robot Unibersal ni Rossum in Rogelio Sicat’s Filipino translation, a finalist to this year’s National Book Awards’ translated literature category.
Meanwhile, #FeelsFest2022 of RomanceClass Books, a community of Filipino romance writers in English, returned at long last as an in-person event featuring author meet-and-greets, book launches, and live readings of Carla de Guzman’s Some Bali to Love, Jay E Tria’s Love to Meet You, Ines Bautista-Yao’s My Quarantine Diary, and others. KOMIKET’s Rurok: Comic & Arts Anthology and Thirst: A Filipino Boys Love Anthology were also promoted at the said event. RomanceClass, stylised as #romanceclass, was founded as a writing workshop in 2013 by novelist Mina V Esguerra, known for her contemporary romance, chick lit, and young adult novellas—particularly the YA fantasy trilogy Interim Goddess of Love.
The Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, after a two-year hiatus, has also recently announced this year’s winners. (See list here.) The ceremony, a celebration of its seventieth year, was held on November 25 in Makati City, and has been livestreamed through their Facebook page.
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