US Edition of CONTEMPORARY FICTION BY FILIPINOS IN AMERICA

PALH (Philip­pine Amer­i­can Lit­er­ary House) announces the release of the US edi­tion of the col­lec­tion of short sto­ries, CONTEMPORARY FICTION BY FILIPINOS IN AMERICA, edit­ed by Cecil­ia Manguer­ra Brainard. The book is avail­able from Ama­zon for $17.95 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1953716091

This book is part of PALH’s efforts to reis­sue in the Unit­ed States impor­tant lit­er­ary books pub­lished in the Philip­pines, and which have been dif­fi­cult to find in the US. The release of CONTEMPORARY FICTION BY FILIPINOS IN AMERICA fol­lows an ear­li­er release of anoth­er anthol­o­gy, FICTION BY FILIPINOS IN AMERICA. Both books are con­sid­ered valu­able lit­er­ary resources, and are avail­able in Ama­zon in paper­back and Kin­dle formats.

First pub­lished in the Philip­pines in 1998, this 2021 US edi­tion of CONTEMPORARY FICTION BY FILIPINOS IN AMERICA hopes to accom­mo­date librar­i­ans, pro­fes­sors, teach­ers, and stu­dents. This col­lec­tion is con­sid­ered a valu­able lit­er­ary resource.

The anthol­o­gy col­lects 26 short sto­ries by Fil­ipino and Philip­pine Amer­i­can writ­ers, includ­ing (in no par­tic­u­lar order): Fati­ma Lim-Wil­son, Mila Faraon Heubeck, Eileen Tabios, John L. Sil­va, Veron­i­ca Montes, Cecil­ia Brainard, Lil­ia V. Vil­lanue­va, Mar V. Puatu, Vince Gotera, Oscar Peñaran­da, Luis Cabalquin­to, F. Delor Ange­les, Melis­sa R. Aran­za­mendez, Eulalio Yer­ro Ibar­ra, Nadine Sar­real, Jay Ruben Dayrit, Lig­aya Vic­to­ria Fru­to, Edgar Poma, Mar­i­anne Vil­lanue­va, Lin­da Ty-Casper, Pauli­no Lim, Jr., Greg Sar­ris, Less Respe­cio Colom­by, N.V.M. Gon­za­lez, and Alma Jill Dizon.

Harold Augen­braum praised the book for MANOA, saying:

“By pulling these per­son­al, fic­tion­al quests togeth­er, the read­er indeed comes away with a var­ied por­trait of Fil­ipinos in Amer­i­ca, not the expres­sion of dark causal­i­ty present in the ear­li­er gen­er­a­tions of writ­ers, such as Bulosan and Santos—those fan­tas­tic con­jurors of Fil­ipino Amer­i­can literature—but of peo­ple cau­tious­ly set­tling into what they hope will be a com­fort­able posi­tion … So many of these sto­ries con­vey lone­li­ness, dis­con­nect­ed­ness, and an inabil­i­ty to form last­ing attach­ments … This col­lec­tion abounds with such ten­sion … Brainard has done a fine job of bring­ing many lit­tle-known writ­ers – and the edgi­ness of Fil­ipinos in Amer­i­ca – to the fore. ”

For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact palh@aol.com or palhbooks@gmail.com.

tags: Philip­pines book, Philip­pines lit­er­a­ture, Philip­pines fic­tion, Fil­ipino Amer­i­can lit­er­a­ture, Philip­pine Amer­i­can literature