On The Spot: Marivi Soliven Blanco, author of Penguin Books' The Mango Bride

(SPOT.ph) Her name might not be familiar to some but she won her first Palanca back in 1992. She has more than 10 books to her name but has remained under the radar for one reason or another. That's about to change.

 

It was in 2011 that Marivi Soliven Blanco was awarded the prestigious Don Carlos Palanca Award Memorial Award for Literature for her novel In the Service of Secrets, written in the English language. This year, she dances with Penguins—and we don't mean those cute flightless birds in tuxedos. Soliven Blanco's Palanca-winning fiction was picked up by none other than Penguin Books and is set to be published internationally this May, adding her to our list of Pinoy Authors in the International Publishing Scene. Though written in a foreign language, her work is without a shred of doubt Pinoy.

 

Was there any particular reason why the book was re-titled 'The Mango Bride' from 'In the Service of Secrets'?

 

My editor and I felt that even though the novel begins and ends with a scene involving the servant, Marcela, keeper of all the Duarte-Guerrero family's secrets, the most compelling part of the story arch had to do with Beverly, who is a mail-order bride. 'The Mango Bride' evokes so many images—the Philippines, love, hope, and I thought it would better resonate with our readers. From the beginning I was concerned that 'In the Service of Secrets' sounded too much like an espionage/CIA sort of story, so I'm glad we found a better title.

 

You write funny essays on Filipino Diaspora in 'Suddenly Stateside,' which was published prior to 'The Mango Bride.' Was the transition to long-form fiction deliberate for the darker themes of the novel?

 

Most of the essays in 'Suddenly Stateside' originally appeared in Legmanila.com, an online magazine set up by friends from U.P. in the late 1990s. When I decided to try getting them published, I added a few more, before sending them to the late Tony Hidalgo at Milflores Press. That is why those essays are all in that short (1,500-2000 word) editorial format. From there I moved on to writing short fiction—the stories that comprise Spooky Mo; and flash fiction, which I read at a monthly open-mic event in San Diego called Dimestories. Soon after I finished writing the short fiction collection, I showed it to a literary agent, who at the time was working at the Sandra Djikstra Literary Agency, which represents Amy Tan. Taryn really wanted to offer me literary representation, but couldn't get anyone else at the agency to approve it, since they were looking for authors who had written full-length novels. So even though I had a fear of writing in the long form, I realized it was virtually the only way I could get published in the United States. In other words, transitioning to long form fiction was more of a tactical decision than one defined by themes. Dark themes can be served equally well by short and even flash fiction.

 

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