ISKRIBOL (Mga Suka ng Isang Bored na Otistik)

Suka #57

Many of my book friends are complaining about the degrading Filipino literature in the international scene (as YA and teen romance books are invading the book shelves). I told them that it isn't degrading, it never got the attention. There are Filipino authors with international bestsellers. We have Miguel Syjuco and his 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize novel, Ilustrado. The book is available in my school's library. This man writes better than Dan Brown. We have Arlene Chai and her two novels, The Last Time I Saw Mother, and Eating Fire and Drinking Water. They were first published in the US and UK. It spread like wildfire afterwards. (I'm reading Eating Fire and Drinking Water now, and the Filipino touch is in every page of this book).

Now here's the catch. What these two authors have in common is that they are based outside the country. Miguel earned a master's degree in Columbia University. Arlene migrated in Australia. Their books got the attention since they are in the front line of the publishing business. We have writers here in the Philippines who write better than most published authors that continually suck our wallets with their books of low-bar narratives and silly one-liners. Check them in bookstores, mostly side-by-side with teen romance fiction that have funny titles.

Karl De Mesa (News of the Shaman)

Dean Francis Alfar (The Kite of Stars and Other Stories)

Eliza Victoria (A Bottle of Storm Clouds)

Ninotchka Rosca (Sugar & Salt)

Lualhati Bautista (Bata, Bata... Pa'no Ka Ginawa?)

Nick Joaquin (The Woman Who Had Two Navels)

Jessica Hagedorn (Dogeaters)

Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Bloods)

F. Sionil Jose (Dusk)

Samantha Sotto (Before Ever After)

I excluded Bob Ong and Eros Atalia. BO is a collective, I believe, not one person. Eros Atalia writes perversely well but he sticks on the Filipino medium. His short story "Ripol Epek" was damn epic nonetheless.