Jose Carillo's Forum

NOTABLE WORKS BY OUR VERY OWN

This page features outstanding works of Filipino writers in English, both past and present. Whenever the need or opportunity arises, a notable work—whether essay, speech, short story, poetry, play, or excerpt from a novel—will be presented here either in its full text or through a link to a website that carries it.

Enjoy the offerings of this series and learn from their felicitous use of the English language!

75 essays that comprise a poet’s full range of sybaritic interests

Krip Yuson’s LUSH LIFE: Essays 2001-2010, a collection of 75 essays representing the Palanca Hall of Fame awardee’s writings for the past decade, was launched last October 20, 2011 at the Champagne Room of The Manila Hotel.

Lush Life

Published by the University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, Lush Life is a personal anthology of one of the country’s most distinguished fictionists and poets. The essays in the collection comprise what Yuson himself describes as “the full range of my sybaritic interests—communal wassailing, varieties of spirits and spiritual experience, friendship, poetry, literature in general, demure dalliances, transgender and trans-generational camaraderie, the departure of loved ones, the country I love.”

Says Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, director of the UST Publishing House, in an advance review of Yuson’s Lush Life: “This collection of 75 essays is proof, were further proof needed, that he has few equals in the field of nonfiction. It also demonstrates how a life fully lived—its dizzying heights scaled, its dark depths plumbed—combined with a large soul, an ironic vision, an unfailingly playful sense of humor, and the gift of bending the language to his every whim, are what lead to great writing.”

Krip Yuson is the pen name of Alfred A. Yuson, whose prodigious literary output includes no less than 20 books, including novels, poetry collections, short fiction, essays, and children’s stories, apart from having edited several books by various authors. He was conferred the S.E.A. Write Award in 1992 for lifetime achievement, and has been elevated to the Hall of Fame of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature.

Lush Life is Yuson’s second collection of personal essays. The first, The Word on Paradise: Essays 1991-2000—On Writers and Writing (2001, Anvil Publishing), is a collection of essays—also totaling 75—written by Yuson in the 1990s.

THE AUTHOR TALKS ABOUT THE LAUNCHING OF LUSH LIFE:
In his column Kripotkin in the October 24, 2011 issue of The Philippine Star, Krip Yuson writes about the launching of Lush Life: “Towards the close of a fun night, we did light up. And we felt that the torch was passed, from the likes of Blas Ople and Adrian Cristobal, bless their posh souls and lush lives. Thanks to them, their spirit and love of spirits, and thanks to everyone who made last Thursday night memorable.”

Read Krip Yuson’s column about the Lush Life launching in The Philippine Star now!

“DEFINITIVELY A TOUR DE FORCE IN NONFICTION WRITING”:
Says Joel Pablo Salud, editor-in-chief  of the Philippines Graphic, in his review of Krip Yuson’s Lush Life in the magazine’s Review of Literature: “Overall, the book is definitively a tour de force in nonfiction writing… With close to thirty books to his name—as poet, essay writer, playwright, novelist, journalist, columnist and critic—he is by far the virtuoso among the country’s illustrious pens. Some may find Yuson a bit of a snoot, supposedly a hitch for whatever reason these Turks may have. Instead of sitting on your cranky little virginal pebbles, little boys, get more than 30 books out and only then will you be worth your words.”

Read Joel Pablo Salud’s  “Lush Life & High Spirits” in the DoubleBlade website now!

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