Author Topic: New novel illuminates every dark cranny of post-war Philippine life  (Read 21350 times)

Joe Carillo

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The first novel by Palanca multi-awarded writer Rony V. Diaz, At War’s End, was launched last Saturday (March 22) at the Solidaridad Bookshop on Padre Faura in Ermita, Manila. The launching was jointly undertaken by the Philippine PEN (Poets, Essayists and Novelists) Center and The Manila Times

Diaz’s novel, published by The Times book division, is the first of a trilogy that throws light on the history of post-World War II Philippines through the lives of flesh-and-blood characters and families. The author is now working on the two other novels in the trilogy, Elegy for Candida and Quita y Pone.
 

In an advance review, writer and literature professor Elmer Ordonez calls At War’s End a “benchmark novel” that “shows a path to writers (who are preoccupied with literary contests) toward producing work that Salvador Lopez said ‘would illuminate any dark nook or cranny of the Filipino temperament, the Filipino experience, the Filipino destiny.’”

Diaz served as editor in chief, publisher, and columnist of The Manila Times before retiring from daily journalism to devote himself to “telling the Philippine story.” He  became well-known for his prize-winning short stories, which were later anthologized in his book Death in a Sawmill and Other Stories.

He studied at the University of the Philippines and at Indiana University in the United States, and had received literature grants from Fulbright-Smith-Mundt and the Rockefeller Foundation. On his return to the Philippines, he taught comparative literature at UP Diliman and conducted writing workshops.

Updated May 24, 2010

Read “Return of the Raven,” Juaniyo Arcellana’s review of At War’s End in the Philippine Star now!

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For orders and inquiries about Rony V. Diaz’s At War’s End, send e-mail to Manila Times Publishing Corp. at books@manilatimes.net or call its Book Division at Tel. (632) 524-5664 loc. 222 or Fax (632) 528-1729.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2010, 02:59:27 PM by Joe Carillo »