THE Manila International Book Fair began yesterday and will be held until Sunday at the SMX SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City. I have been attending the Book Fair since the early 1990s, when it was just a small affair with a few stalls and some hardy souls flitting from one bookshelf to another, in search of treasures.
For treasures books are, indeed. Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1440 saved the time and patience of many scribes who used to copy words and do illustrations painstakingly in abbeys, masjids and monasteries. I’ve been to the British Library several times, and my eyes popped out every time I saw the illustrated editions of those old books. The colors still seem vibrant and alive, as if lit from within the page. And the details of the arabesques, curves and curlicues of flowers, fruits and vines are breathtaking.
In the late 1960s, we thought my father had finally bought us a television set when a big carton box arrived in our house. We immediately surrounded the gift from the universe, and we were a bit disappointed when out came volume upon volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica. My father had asked his brother, who then worked overseas, to send us copies of the famous encyclopedia. In the 1960s, we either read “Reader’s Digest” or the encyclopedias, and my father made sure we had copies of both.
I began reading the encyclopedia page by page, not the whole set, of course, but topics I wanted to explore. I dipped into it, and did research for my school assignments and the biographies of authors we took up in class. I still remember my mild amusement when a classmate in high school complained that I could do research well because we had encyclopedias at home. The teacher’s rebuttal was classic: “Is it Danton’s fault if his father invested in books and yours did not?”
I still remember poring over the coated pages devoted to plants and tracing the maps of countries that changed names over the years. I think I was reading so much one summer that I remember my father telling me to also spend time outside the house, to play with our neighbors’ children.
Later, my father would buy a whole set of the Children’s Classics, illustrated edition. They were stories about “Robin Hood and the Sherwood Forest,” the “1001 Nights of the Arabian Tales” (expurgated edition) and “Alice in Wonderland,” among others. These books I remember reading until late into the afternoon, sitting on my bed, my back against the headboard, as day turned into dark.
As Bienvenido N. Santos said, that much reading would naturally have an outlet into writing. In elementary school, I wrote “theme papers” on required topics like “What I Did Last Summer Vacation,” and found my papers tacked on the bulletin board the next day, as a model for “good writing.” In high school, Mrs. Fe Silvosa, the adviser of the school paper, appointed me as the associate editor, and later, the editor-in-chief of the paper. At Ateneo, I was also appointed as features editor of the Guidon, one of three, the other two being Rayboy Pandan (now a prizewinning novelist) and Jake Yap (who became a pastor).
In fourth year at Ateneo, I was finally appointed editor-in-chief of Heights, the university’s literary journal. I worked with Candy Quimpo (now a prizewinning novelist of children’s and YA books) and produced two issues that featured new writing. Linda Ty-Casper held a creative-writing workshop sponsored by the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Ateneo, and I signed up. In those four days, I met Rofel Brion, Timie Lim, Beni Santos and Rayvi Sunico, with whom I would exchange poems in the next few years in informal but fruitful workshops.
Professor Emmanuel Torres’ classes on modern poetry and creative writing were the turning points in my college life. Our teacher came to class with tousled hair, sharp eyes and a sharper tongue, but I was never afraid of him. I was there to learn. I took notes, read the books of the writers he recommended, and consulted with him before class began on how I could improve my writing. He would later recommend me to attend the Silliman National Writers’ Workshop under the tutelage of Dr. Edith Tiempo, who would become a national artist, and her husband, Dr. Edilberto Tiempo. I remember having workshops under the spread of leaves and the shade coming from the ancient acacia trees of Dumaguete City.
I wanted to leave for overseas to take my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, so I sent letters to many schools in the West, even to the National University of Singapore. I did get accepted in a university in the Midwest, but I chose to stay in the country until the British Council gave me a scholarship at the University of Stirling in Scotland. I took up a master’s degree in Publishing Studies, a course which has helped me a lot in my writing career.
This degree taught me that we have to help the publishers sell our books, so they could publish another set of books. The money just goes round and round. We need to pitch in with the marketing and publicity of books, which starts with a good manuscript, an arresting cover design, readable typography and a targeted marketing plan. The days of the writer as a self-absorbed diva are over.
Anvil published my first book, “Skin Voices Faces: Poems in English and Filipino,” and would publish most of my books, including the landmark anthology “Ladlad,” the anthology of gay writing that became a runaway bestseller. Later, I would be signed up by Penguin Random House Southeast Asia, which has published my novels “Riverrun” and “Boys’ Love,” as well as my short stories collected in “The Heart of Summer.”
Penguin SEA also asked me to translate the novels of National Artist Amado V. Hernandez, which I turned into “The Preying Birds” (“Ibong Mandaragit”) and “Crocodile’s Tears” (“Luha ng Buwaya”). I also did an adaptation of Lope K. Santos’ long and difficult novel, “Banaag at Sikat,” and turned it into “Radiance and Sunrise.” I am lucky that all of these books are selling here and overseas, despite the reality of a shrinking readership.
I will be at the bookfair this Saturday to sign my books at 2 p.m. at the Penguin SEA stall, while Central Books asked me to join a forum on writing on Sunday, 3–6 p.m. All events will be held at the SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia.
The bookfair will be held for five days. It’s time to hunt for the words that open many interesting worlds.