Saturday, March 12, 2011

Author Zosimo Quibilan's Pagluwas

FilBookFest is proud to announce a new author.  Zosimo Quibilan, Jr. the author of Pagluwas (Going to the City)  published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2006. Zosimo has been living in the US since 2007 and have been giving occasional talks on Filipino Literature and Language at the University of California Los Angeles. In fact, he just gave a talk last Friday called "Ang Baho ng Lipunan Kaya U d Toilet," an inquiry to understanding Filipino as a language in a Filipino American setting based on his own short story called "U d Toilet" (from Likhaan Journal of Contemporary Literature, 2009).

He writes to us:  "Despite living in the US for four years, this is the first time I am reaching out to the Filipino American literary community. I came across several press releases and blog posts about the Filipino Book Festival to be held in October and I got really excited.  I heard that this is going to be a major event for the Filipino American community and I want to let you know that I would very much like to participate as a featured published author. I could probably read some of my poems or excerpts from my book during the event. "




Zosimo Quibilan, Jr. won the 2006 Philippine National Book Award for Short Story and the 8th Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book Award in 2008 for Pagluwas (Going to the City) published by the University of the Philippines Press in 2006.  His stories and poems have either appeared or are forthcoming in the International Literary Quarterly, Kweli Journal, Ani, Likhaan Journal of Contemporary Philippine Literature, Mondo Marcos, Asia Writes, Monday Magazine, Verbsap, 42opus, Bewildering Stories, Mga Kuwentong Paspasan, and Fast Food Fiction, among others. He is currently working on his next book tentatively called "U d Toilet" and occasionally gives talks on Filipino Literature and Language at the UCLA.  He lives in South Pasadena, CA with his wife and three kids.

 Here's a short book description of Pagluwas.


Pagluwas (University of the Philippines Press, 2006) is a book of 52 short tales about passengers who board a bus, bound for Manila from the mountain city of Baguio, and subsequently get involved in a brutal collision. There are no fatalities. There are no survivors.

Written in rich colloquial Filipino, Pagluwas tells us what happened before everyday objects (lipstick, toy robot, a bottle of rum, basketball jersey, vegetables…) and ordinary lives and loves went flying into oblivion. An half-novel, half-anthology of an exploded narrative that gives new meaning to the term "we are what we leave behind" in all its importance and ephemera. 





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