Philippine PEN event to feature three female authors
IN celebration of March as National Women’s Month, the Philippine Center of International PEN ( Poets and Playwrights, Essayists, and Novelists) will have authors Alice Sun- Cua, Mookie Katigbak- Lacuesta, and Che Sarigumba talk about and sign copies of their latest books at the Solidaridad Book Shop in Manila on March 24.
Sun- Cua will discuss “Kissing through a Handkerchief and Other Travel Tales” ( University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2017), her third collection of essays after the National Book Award- winning “Riding Towards the Sunrise and Other Travel Tales” ( 2001) and “Autumn in Madrid” ( 2013).
A practicing obstetrician- gynecologist, Sun- Cua writes travel essays and medical articles for Cruising, a monthly travel magazine. She is also a poet and translator. Her poems are collected in “Charted Prophesies and Other Poems” ( 2001), and her translation works include “Las Personas del Verbo,” poems of Jaime Gil de Biedma co- translated into English.
Katigbak- Lacuesta’s latest poetry collection is “Hush Harbor” ( UST Publishing House, 2017), her fourth after “The Proxy Eros” ( 2008), “Burning Houses” ( 2013), and “Tropicalia: Poems and Translations” ( collaborative work, Vagabond Press, 2016).
She has won the Palanca, Philippines Free Press, and Philippines Graphic Nick Joaquin awards for her poems; and was a delegate to several literary festivals, including the International Festival of Poetry in Medellín, Colombia.
In 2015, Katigbak- Lacuesta completed her residencywith the International Writing Program of the University of Iowa. She is the associate director for poetry of De La Salle University’s Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center.
Sarigumba’s book is her debut novel “Puso Pa Rin ang Nagpasiya” ( It’s the Heart that Still Decides) ( Vee Press, writing contest sponsored by the National Book Development Board.
She has served as the travel and lifestyle editor of the Pilipino Mirror tabloid for five years, and is a literary reviewer in Filipino at the Philippines Graphic magazine.
Sarigumba also writes poetry and has been a member of the renowned Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo ( LIRA) since 2010. She is one of the fellows of this year’s University of the Philippines National Writers Workshop in April. She has been invited to teach in the university to share her knowledge of writing and publishing.
The event will be held at the Solidaridad Book Shop, 531 Padre Faura Street, Ermita, Manila. It begins at 5: 30 p. m. and is open to the public. For inquiries, please email Philippine PEN at philippinepen@ yahoo. com or call the Solidaridad Book Shop at ( 632) 2541- 086.