Cebuano Studies Center to launch 2 books

THE University of San Carlos (USC) Cebuano Studies Center, in cooperation with the USC Press and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, will launch two books of translated Cebuano works on July 5 at the Buttenbruch Hall, USC main campus, P. del Rosario St., Cebu City.

To be launched under the Bunga: Cebuano Writers Series program are Hunger in Nayawak and Other Stories by prize-winning fictionist Lamberto G. Ceballos, and Because Love is not Blind by the renowned late poet and short story writer Temistokles M. Adlawan.

Hunger in Nayawak and Other Stories, published by USC Press, is translated by Trizer Dale Mansueto and Dr. Hope Sabanpan-Yu.

Because Love is not Blind, published by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, is translated by multi-awarded writer Merlie Alunan and edited by Dr. Yu.

Ceballos is a contemporary Cebuano writer who started his writing career from his poem, “Phantom of the Times,” which was published in 1967.

After decades of diligent work, Ceballos has established himself as one of Cebu’s most prolific and original fiction writers.

He has penned poetry and fiction, and has won numerous literary awards such as the Gawad Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino prize, the Bathalan-ong Halad sa Dagang prize and the prestigious Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for the Cebuano short story.

Adlawan, on the other hand, is one of Cebu’s major fictionists. His book, Because Love is Not Blind, shows the range of his achievement throughout a long and notable literary career.

Adlawan has written poetry, short stories, and novels, on subjects ranging from the rural to the urban, from unpaved roads to office politics. His style varies from the colloquial irreverent manner of his highly humorous stories to the fluent imagery and poetic evocations in thought-provoking narratives.

The stories are sometimes jovial yet always thoughtful.

Some of his important stories from the late twentieth century are published here for the first time in book form.

The Bunga: Cebuano Writers Series program of the USC Cebuano Studies Center is designed to increase the availability of Cebuano-authored books in both Cebuano and English.