This week, our Editors-at-Large bring us around the world for updates on the world’s literary scenes. From a celebration of Philippine literature in South Korea, to a night of poetry reading in the United States and the first Kenyan author to sit on the panel of judges for the International Booker Prize, read on to learn more!
Alton Melvar M Dapanas, Editor-at-Large, Reporting from the Philippines
For years, the depth of Philippine literature remained an unchartered territory for Korean readership. Now, a devoted cultural undertaking is bridging that gap, bringing the works of two celebrated Filipino writers—National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin and award-winning novelist Mica De Leon—to bookshelves across South Korea.
The Hansae Yes24 Foundation, a private enterprise dedicated to cultivating intercultural dialogue between South Korea and Southeast Asia, has recently presented Korean translations of three Filipino-authored books. The selection includes Joaquin’s novel The Woman Who Had Two Navels and short story collection Tropical Gothic, alongside De Leon’s romcom novel Love on the Second Read.
At the media briefing and book launch held at the Korea Foundation Global Centre in Seoul, Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Maria Theresa Dizon-De Vega extolled the project, calling Joaquin a literary titan whose writing delves into the labyrinthine relationship between collective past and a person’s selfhood. ‘[I hope Korean readers] will gain a deeper understanding of the society, history and culture of the Philippines through these books’, Ambassador Dizon-De Vega said.
Joaquin, who passed away in 2004, remains one of the country’s most prominent writers, known for his nuanced narratives fusing colonial heritage, folklore, and psychological insight. His Tropical Gothic (Brisbane: University of Queensland Press, 1972), in particular, offers an eerie depiction of postcolonial Philippines, spinning short stories like ‘Summer Solstice’, ‘Candido’s Apocalypse’, and ‘Doña Jeronima’ to delve into themes of personal identity, myths, and the enduring remnants of history with evocative magic realism that captivates readers.
Meanwhile, De Leon’s Love on the Second Read (Singapore: Penguin Random House Southeast Asia, 2023) puts a contemporary take on romance, alluding to the main characters’ plotlines as two editors navigate their old emotional wounds to save their publishing house. ‘Because my book is deeply Filipino in its writing and has a limited global reach, I often worry that my stories might not be relatable enough’, De Leon detailed during a panel discussion. ‘So when I write, I focus on what’s unifying among all the people’.
The book launch was timed to the 75th anniversary of Philippines-Korea diplomatic relations, a landmark event the Hansae Yes24 Foundation aimed to pay tribute to by spotlighting contemporary Philippine literature. ‘I hope that through the recently published Philippine Southeast Asian Literature Series, Korean readers will be able to understand and empathise with the historical background and culture of the Philippines’, said Baek Soo-mi, chairperson of the Hansae Yes24 Foundation.
The foundation, instituted last year by Hansae Yes24 Holdings Co. chairman Kim Dong-nyung, has priorly unveiled Vietnamese, Thai, and Indonesian literary works to Korean audiences in 2022 through the Southeast Asian Literature Series. Plans are already underway to publish Malaysian and more Indonesian titles in the coming years.
Mary Noorlander, Editor-at-Large, Reporting from the United States
On August 8, the national poetry library and literary center Poets House hosted its final Summer Nights reading of the season. This grand finale event was emceed by performance artist Brad Walrond, featuring poet Danez Smith and National Book Award finalist m.s. RedCherries. Concluding with a performance from indie rock band Speedy Oritz, the night’s combination of poetry, performance, and music promised “the ultimate catharsis in rhythm and rhyme.”
Overlooking the waterfront at Wagner Park, the Statue of Liberty was in full view throughout the event, something m.s RedCherries mentioned when she quoted Chilean poet Nicanor Parra’s poem, “Artefactos”: “United States: the country where liberty is a statue.” m.s RedCherries read from her debut collection, mother (Penguin Poets, 2024), a combination of poetry and prose exploring Indigenous identity in the United States.
Following an impromptu poem from emcee Brad Walrond, Danez Smith took the stage. They commented on the roar of helicopters overhead, a reminder of New York City’s Financial District, where “men built monuments to money,” even as we sat in front of idyllic lapping waves, “amongst true eternity, the ephemera of nature.”
Like each artist that night, Smith cast an enchanting reverence over the crowd. For the most part, Smith read from their collection Bluff (Graywolf Press, 2024), including several love poems and one poem which they wrote “drunk off tequila, about a drag queen who looked terrible, but was doing amazing.”
Alejandra Quintana Arocho (writer, literary translator, and Ph.D. student in Latin American and Iberian Cultures at Columbia University), was in attendance and said about Smith:
Having never listened to them read beforehand, I found Smith’s stage presence to be spellbinding. . . Their last few poems, my favorite, were unsparing odes to love, with its joys, its frustrations, and especially with its accompanying bodily wounds and excretions. Beautiful and memorable homages to the family, friends, and lovers who stick by our ugliest, smelliest and most human moments.
Over the course of the evening, Walrond, m.s RedCherries, and Smith all stoked an undercurrent of angry optimism. Each poet spoke to the nation at large through the lens of community: commenting on collective liberation and rageful hope for a better, more equitable America.
Wambua Muindi, Editor-at-Large, Reporting from Kenya
On June 24, the panel of judges for the 2026 International Booker Prize was announced. Making the list was the Kenyan Troy Onyango, the founder of Lolwe, a self-described Pan-African literary arts platform and magazine. This made him the first Kenyan to serve as a judge for the International Booker Prize. In celebrating the announcement via X, Troy Onyango said that he was “thrilled and honoured to be one of the judges for the International Booker Prize 2026 alongside such wonderful, brilliant people.” The other judges include Natasha Brown—author of Assembly and Chair for 2024—Sophie Hughes, Marcus du Sautoy and Nilanjana S. Roy. Next year, the Booker Prize Foundation will be marking its tenth anniversary of the prize in its current form.
In other news, the author lineup for the Macondo Literary Festival 2025, scheduled for September 19–21, is out. Themed ‘Chronicles and Currents: Connecting Africa’s Histories and Futures Through Literature,’ this year’s edition will feature authors like Barbados’s Karen Lord, Nigeria’s Yewande Omotoso, England’s Daniel Hahn, Brazil’s Itamar Vieira Júnior, Trinidad and Tobago’s Kevin Jared Hosein, Cape Verde’s Joaquim Arena, Colombia’s Cristina Bendek, Angola’s José Eduardo Agualusa, and Jamaica’s Marcia Douglas, among others. The three-day festival, which occurs annually at the Kenya National Theatre, promises to keep book lovers and literary enthusiasts in Nairobi next month engaged and entertained through performances, masterclasses, and plenary discussions.
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