Storms of Language in Novel Writing: A Joint Book Launch at Casa Gorordo

| February 7, 2020

The Cebuano Studies Center, in cooperation with the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI), invites you to “Storms of Language in Novel Writing: A Joint Book Launch at Casa Gorordo.” This launch brings together for the first time in Cebu two novels published in 2019 exploring the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda: Broken Islands by Criselda Yabes (Ateneo de Manila) and Remains by Daryll Delgado (Ateneo de Naga). The event shall also feature a discussion with writers Jeneth Borlasa, R. Joseph Dazo, Erik Tuban, George Borriňaga, Jason Baguia, and Louella Alix, together with the authors, on the state of writing and literature in the country, as well as current events.

Criselda Yabes is the author of eight books, including Sarena’s Story: The Loss of a Kingdom, which won the UP Centennial Literary Prize for Creative Nonfiction simultaneously with Below the Crying Mountain. A journalism graduate of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, she worked as a correspondent for the international press in Manila, covering politics and coups as well as other major events overseas. Her novel Broken Islands, released by Ateneo de Manila University Press, tells the story of two women—the free-spirited law school dropout Luna and Typhoon Yolanda survivor and house helper Alba—and their relationship with each other and the Cimafranca family of Borbon, Cebu. With both women coming from different experiences, classes, and regions, the novel delves into issues of class, gender inequality, and the trauma that tragedies—both natural and manmade—can leave on us.

Daryll Delgado’s first book, After the Body Displaces Water, won the thirty-second Manila Critics Circle/Philippine National Book Award for best book of short fiction in English, and was a finalist for the 2013 Madrigal-Gonzalez First Book Award. She also received a Philippine Free Press award for her fiction in 2010. She has received writing residencies in Australia, Spain, and the Philippines, and holds degrees in journalism and comparative literature from the University of the Philippines in Diliman. Remains, published by Ateneo de Naga University Press, is set in her hometown of Tacloban, and introduces the reader to several characters who each represent different sections of a post-Yolanda society.

The launch shall be held on February 15, 2020 (Saturday), 3 p.m., at the Casa Gorordo Museum. Registration begins at 2:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, and copies of the two novels will be sold for a special launch price. For inquiries, contact the launch coordinator, Charles Dominic Sanchez, through email (cebuanostudiescenter@gmail.com or cd.sanchez91@gmail.com), or through landline (32)2300-100 local 308.

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Category: Events, Upcoming Events