In a two-day virtual event, the UST Publishing House (USTPH) mounted the panel “Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) with UST authors. The online sessions, one on translation and another to launch new titles, were livestreamed on November 17 and 18, 2021, via the MIBF and USTPH Facebook pages.
The first virtual session, titled “The Other World: The Challenges and Anxieties of Translation,” was a literary conversation featuring Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (CCWLS) Director and Palanca awardee Prof. Emeritus Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, Ph.D., and Assoc. Prof. Chuckberry J. Pascual, Ph.D., of the Research Center for Culture, Arts, and Humanities (RCCAH) and Department of Literature.
Pascual translated two of Hidalgo’s books into Filipino: Sa Bayan ng Nagngangalit na Buwan (Where Only the Moon Rages) and Kundiman ng Panahong Naiwan (Ballad of a Lost Season). Both books hold critical acclaim in Philippine literature. The session, moderated by Prof. John Jack G. Wigley, Ph.D., discussed craft, translation, the strangeness of memory, and the inescapable pull of storytelling.
In the second session, authors Cecilia Manguerra-Brainard (“Selected Short Stories”), Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta (“Burning Houses and Hush Harbor”), Ferdinand Pisigan Jarin (“Tangke: Mga Gunita ng Pagkabata” and “Anim na Sabado ng Beyblade”), Paul Alcoseba Castillo (“Lunas sa Nabubuong Lubos”), and Rommel B. Rodriguez (“Maikling Walang Hanggan: Mga Dagli”) were spotlighted in “The Collection Connection: New Books by the UST Publishing House.”
The celebrated writers introduced their new books of fiction and poetry, including the challenges of writing in the pandemic, and read excerpts from their works.
For 2021, the MIBF was held from November 17 to 21, 2021, with an additional two days of extension up until November 23. Its theme was “Reading Reimagined.” For over 40 years now, the MIBF has remained to be the largest and longest running book fair in the Philippines.
