Filipina authors shortlisted for the 2014 Scholastic Asian Book Award

With works spanning from realism to fantasy, it seems that Asian literature is thriving and vibrant, as proven by the 2014 Scholastic Asian Book Award Shortlist. The list was announced on Thursday during the 2014 Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) Press Conference.

Catherine Torres and Sophia Lee, fiction fellows based in Manila, number among the five winners. The others include Thia Shi Min of Singapore, and Aditi Krishnakumar and Vivek Bhanot, both from India.

Titled "Sula's Voyage," Torres' manuscript tells the story of vagabond child Sula's there-and-back-again: her flight to Mindoro to escape from a broken promise, and the trecherous journey back to save her friend and discover her origins.

Anthologies and publications in the Philippines, Singapore, and the United States—such as "Motherhood Statements" and "Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction"—have Torres' work in their table of contents. Torres also translates Korean works into English with her husband, a Korean scholar.

Lee's story, "What Things Mean," revolves around Olive, a girl too similar to her missing father. To understand herself and her meaning in the world, she embarks on a quest and finds out that it is she who puts meaning into things and not the other way around.

Lee is currently taking up her MA in Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines - Diliman. She was a fellow at the 52nd Silliman National Writers Workshop, and a member of the group Kwentista ng mga Tsikiting (Storytellers for Children).

The winning author will be announced during the 2014 AFCC's opening ceremony on May 30. Other than a cash prize of $10,000, the winner's work will be published by Scholastic Asia. — Rie Takumi/VC, GMA News