THE UST Publishing House launched eight new titles during the online edition of the Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) on Nov. 18.
Thomasian poet Paul Castillo’s “Lunas sa Nabubuong Lubos,” one of the new titles, is a collection of poems about healing.
“Ang koleksyong ito ay imbestigasyon sa gamot sa buong katauhan ng taong may sakit at sa umiinom ng inaakalang makapagpapagaling sa kanila,” Castillo said in a virtual panel discussion.
He said the collection took him more than two years to write and was only finished during the Covid lockdown.
“Kahit hindi talaga Covid ang original focus ko nu’ng simulan ko ang proyekto, naging mahalagang bahagi ito dahil napalitaw nito ang malalim at sistematikong karamdaman ng lipunan,” he said.
The publishing house also launched Filipino translations of two short story collections by Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo, director of the University of Santo Tomas Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (UST CCWLS).
“Sa Bayan ng Nagngangalit na Buwan” (Where Only the Moon Rages) and “Kundiman ng Panahong Naiwan” (Ballad of a Lost Season) were both translated by UST CCWLS resident fellow Chuckberry J. Pascual.
Other titles were Cecilia Manguerra Brainard’s “Selected Short Stories,” Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta’s “Burning Houses & Hush Harbor,” Ferdinand Jarin’s “Tangke: Mga Gunita Ng Pagkabata” and “Anim Na Sabado Ng Beyblade,” and Rommel Rodriguez’s “Maikling Walang Hanggan: Mga Dagli.”
This year’s Manila International Book Fair was held online from Nov. 18 to 23. It features books from selected publishing houses at discounted prices. Alexandra L. Mangasar with reports from Samantha Fatima C. Creencia
