New anthology features the best contemporary Filipino novelists

The literary and cultural journal Manila Envelope returns this year with the launch last month of “The Best Contemporary Filipino Novelists”, an anthology that features excerpts from the works of 13 Filipino writers from all over the world.

“My inspiration for this was Granta, an English literary magazine,” editor Jessica Zafra explained. “Periodically, they put out an issue called Best of Young British Novelists. I think the first one came out in the 80’s, and so you had people like Ian McEwan and Martin Amis before either one was huge. They said that these are the ones you had to look out for, and they really delivered. So we’re hoping that something also will come of this.” Zafra, with the help of Filipino-American author R. Zamora Linmark (“Leche”), invited several authors—“basically those who were born when the Beatles were big”—to be part of the anthology by submitting excerpts from a previously published novel or a work in progress. This issue of the journal, however, took five5 years from inception to printing so they had to change the concept a little. “The original title was The Best Young Filipino Novelists. That was five years ago,” she revealed. “When David [Guerrero, the publisher] said we were finally putting it out, I said I don’t think most of us can pass for 'young' anymore, can we make it 'contemporary'?” Because of the long gestation period of this issue of the journal, several promising authors like Lysley Tenorio and Alex Gilvarry have since been published but were not included. Zafra admitted that it is unfortunate, but they had to stick to the list which they finalized several years ago. And it is, nevertheless, an impressive list, which includes Miguel Syjuco, F.H. Batacan, Dean Francis Alfar, Lakambini Sitoy, Sabina Murray, Gina Apostol, Vicente Garcia Groyon, Angelo R. Lacuesta, Brian Aascalon Roley, Katrina Tuvera, Bino A. Realuyo, Linmark, and Zafra herself, who is working on her first novel. “We wanted to get a representative bunch of writing,” Zafra said. “There are a lot of people who, when you say 'Filipino novelist', think that they write only about this one idea, like social realism. But here, we show a broad range of genres with the likes of Dean Alfar, who has always worked in speculative fiction.” Linmark further explained that many of the featured writers are challenging the idea of what a Filipino novel is. “The stories are now broader and richer.” “People should be excited about these authors because they’re very good, and they are Filipinos who are making a mark in different genres in different countries,” Zafra added. “Our point, really, is to show the public good writing, interesting writing.” Guerrero hopes, in these times when people are glued to their electronic devices, that this issue of Manila Envelope will help them rediscover the pleasure of reading. “We want people to know that we have good writers and that the Philippines has a great literary tradition,” he said. “There are more writers out there that we want to showcase, and more anthologies to come, if people are interested.” — BM, GMA News Manila Envelope’s “The Best Contemporary Filipino Novelists” is available in major bookstores nationwide.