THE RACE to 400 books for the quadricentennial of the University continues with the release of this school year’s initial 25 titles in both fiction and non-fiction.
From theology to literature to medicine-related disciplines written in both Filipino and English, the books were launched last September 2 at the World Trade Training Center, where the authors got the first copies.
“We hope to publish 15 more books this coming January in line with the University week,” said John Jack Wigley assistant to the director of the UST Publishing House. “So far, we have been consistent in hitting the 40 books-a-year mark.”
The goal to produce 400 books by 2011 started in 2001 and as of the last count, 265 titles have been released.
History professor Jose Victor Torres’s book In Transition: The UST during the American Colonial Period chronicles the changes that occurred in UST during the first 37 years (1898-1935) of American colonial rule and is among the history books launched.
Hermogenes E. Bacareza’s two-volume book titled Philippine-Germany Relations: A Modern History (1834-2006) discusses relations between the two countries.
Self-help books like Legal Writing by Judge Alicia G. Decano lectures law students and lawyers on how to improve their writing, while ¡HOLA AMIGOS! by Josefina Gonzalez, Luningning Ferrer and Miguela Miguel is teemed with exercises designed to teach the Spanish language to anyone.
A major contribution to the practice of chemistry in Philippine industry is Dr. Cecilia Bayquen’s Industrial Chemical Processes Book 2 which is one of the few books on chemical processes written by a local author.
On the other hand, Fe Aldave Yan’s The Tagalog Region: Lexicon of the Language and Dialects helps language researchers and lexicon enthusiasts to deepen their knowledge on the semantics of dialects in the Tagalog region, while Bong Osorio’s The Best PR Programs and Tools (2nd ed.) provides the PR industry with a new selection of the winning entries to the IABC Gold Quill Philippines Awards.
Angelo V. Suarez’s second collection of poems, Dissonant Umbrellas – Notes Toward a Gesamtkunstwerk draws from contemporary trends in literature, pop culture, and social reality. Other poetry-collections are Fr. Philip Bersabe and Jonathan Villar’s Dreams and Rivers, and Cirilo Bautista’s Latay sa Isipan which represented the polyvalent voices in Philippine poetry.
Literary books released include Fernando Rosal Gonzalez’s winning story in CANVAS’ 2nd Annual Romeo Forbes Children’s Storywriting Competition, Ang Batang Maraming Bawal, Agay Llanera’s SOL – A Legend about the Sun, playwright Glenn Seville Mas’s Children of the Sea and in the Land of the Giants, and Nonon Carandang’s Lahi ni Adan, a rejoinder to his first book, Angkan ni Eba, which evinces the institutionalization of masculinity as the structure that defines power and perception.
Theological books launched include Theology Week 2005 – Eucharist with Mary and Theology Week 2006 – Vatican II: 40 Years After edited by Fr. Jose Antonio Aureada, O.P. and Fr. Richard Ang, O.P., and Archbishop of Caceres Leonardo Legaspi, O.P.’s collection of articles and talks, Passion for Cathechesis and Heart to Heart – Journeying with the Priests in Prayerful Reflection.
Also launched were Boy Villasanta’s Expose, Peryodismong Pampelikula sa Pilipinas, Rachy Cuna’s coffee table book on flower arrangement titled Adornments, Genevieve Asenjo’s Komposo ni Dandansoy, a collection of stories written in both Hiligaynon and Filipino, Fanny Garcia’s Buhay-Pinoy: Mga Piling Interbyu’t Artikulo, Abercio Rotor’s Living with Nature on our Times, and If a Filipino Writer Reads Quijote, which compiles lectures by Alfred Yuson, Vicente Groyon, and National Artist F. Sionil Jose on the classic Cervantes novel. Kristine Jane R. Liu
