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Philippines

February-2024-Mother-Language-Day-List-Feature (1)

Clockwise from top left: Bikash Dihingia, Risten Sokki, Imran Sada'i, Boubacar Boris Diop, Gawani Gaongen, Jean D'Amerique, Adriana Paredes Pinda, Emiliana Bernard-Stephenson

International Mother Language Day: 8 Writers to Read Now

By Words Without Borders

In celebration of International Mother Language Day, we’re spotlighting 8 writers working in their heritage languages, from Wolof and Kankanaey to Uyghur and Mapudungun.

The covers of the books in the December Watchlist: Glossolalia, On the Isle of Antioch, The Archive...

The Watchlist: December 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends six new books you won’t want to miss this month, from a Brazilian crime novel to poetry translated from Filipino and Serbian.

A large wave crashes in a stormy ocean

Photo by Todd Turner on Unsplash

The Strength of Water

By Gawani Gaongen

“Do not make the water angry,” they say.

Translated from Kankanaey by the author

Multilingual

A portrait of writer Miguel Syjuco

The City and the Writer: In Manila with Miguel Syjuco

By Nathalie Handal

Architectural gems crumble on street corners, shrouded in grit till they’re decreed too ugly to save.

February-2022-Kristian-Sendon-Cordero-Interview-Kristian-Sendon-Cordero-Featured

Kristian Sendon Cordero. Photo copyright © Boyet Abrenica.

“The Varied Temperaments of Languages”

By Soleil Davíd

Not so many people think of the local languages as literary languages.

Various wooden letter blocks

Photo by Amador Loureiro on Unsplash

9 Writers to Read on International Mother Language Day

By Words Without Borders

We highlight 9 writers working in their heritage languages, from Galician and Cebuano to Guaraní and Kaaps.

Multimedia

The Voices of Contact Languages in Asia: An Introduction

By Stefanie Shamila Pillai

For multilingual writers, choosing to write in their heritage languages can be seen as an expression of agency, an active choice to communicate in a nondominant language.

A blue and yellow ceramic bowl in the shape of an ocean wave.

Wave bowl attributed to Christopher Dresser, ca. 1880. Glazed earthenware. Public domain, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Purchase, James David Draper Gift, in memory of Robert Isaacson, 2001.

Eyes of the Wave

By Francis C. Macansantos

Eyes of blue-green watch you, / Dimpled smiles hidden in water.

Translated from Zamboangueño Chavacano by the author

MultimediaMultilingual

Mr. Marcos (A Soliloquy)

By Francis C. Macansantos

The moon taunts, smiles, / “Come into my parlor, old man.”

Translated from Zamboangueño Chavacano by the author

MultimediaMultilingual

The Husband and His Brother

By Björn Halldórsson

When Böddi came back to Iceland a month later, he was engaged.

Translated from Icelandic by Larissa Kyzer

MultimediaMultilingual

Birds in Flight, 1965

By Enrique Villasis

Not as a multitude, but as one.

Translated from Filipino by Bernard Capinpin

MultimediaMultilingual

A Note from Contest Judge David Tomas Martinez

It was an Hunahpúan effort to choose only four poems from this extraordinarily strong pool of poems.

The Man with a Thousand Names

By R. Joseph Dazo

Aren’t you the one with the tattoos?

Translated from Cebuano by John Bengan

Multilingual

Framing the Story: Six Graphic Narratives

By Susan Harris

These artists capture both words and images to convey narratives individual and collective.

The View

By Marlon Hacla & Apol Sta. Maria

An escalating inquiry into the passage of time.

Translated by Kristine Ong Muslim

(Re)writing the Philippines: An Introduction

By Kristian Sendon Cordero & Kristine Ong Muslim

The works we have selected challenge a monolithic view of the fragmented histories and interconnected, overlapping cultures in the Philippines.

Translated from Filipino by Kristine Ong Muslim

from “Remains”

By Daryll Delgado

Coconut trees, palm fronds gone. Decapitated.

Water

By Voltaire Oyzon

Three or four days / he hangs out in our house.

Translated from Waray by Merlie M. Alunan

Multilingual

“Languages Constantly Crackling in the Air”

By Words Without Borders

Not enough is known about the Philippines.

Norebang

By Genevieve L. Asenjo

We belt out everything from ABBA to K-pop, to “Ang Pasko ay Sumapit,” grinding and wiggling.

Translated from Filipino by Michelle Tiu Tan

Multilingual

Three spheres floating on a dark grey background.

Photo by Hassaan Here on Unsplash.

Juggler

By Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles

How does one grasp making / sense of timing when to hurl and when to catch?

Translated from Filipino by Kristine Ong Muslim

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Erlina’s Sugilanon

By Tito Genova Valiente

Actually, the night Erlina first saw an Onglo was the night the creature was regenerating his power.

A Planned Brief Documentary on a Teenage Boy in a Badjao Village

By M. J. Cagumbay Tumamac

Like a fish / in an aquarium, you are a source of distress and distraction.

Translated from Filipino by Kristine Ong Muslim

MultimediaMultilingual

Can’t Go Out

By Elizabeth Joy Serrano-Quijano

I want to cry and look for Papa, but I can’t go out.

Translated from Cebuano by John Bengan

Multilingual

Birds of Paradise, 1965

By Enrique Villasis

In the mind, a flock of birds, feathers from an unshakable, shadowy thing.

Translated from Filipino by Bernard Capinpin

Multilingual

from “Melismas”

By Marlon Hacla

What / are the things we need to prepare?

Translated from Filipino by Kristine Ong Muslim

Multilingual