Eric Gamalinda and Miguel Syjuco

HONG KONG – Two Filipino creative writers brought honor to the Philippines when their outstanding literary works were recognized in Hong Kong.
 
The Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Hong Kong congratulated creative writers Eric Gamalinda and Miguel Syjuco.

“Consul General Claro Cristobal takes great pride in the achievements of these two talented compatriots, noting that the recognitions they have reaped also bring honor to Filipinos in Hong Kong and around the world,” the PCG said in a statement.

Gamalinda was one of the five authors shortlisted for this year’s prestigious Man Asian Literary Prize award.

The Consulate General said Gamalinda, a winner of several Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards, is currently a professor at Columbia University.

He secured a slot in the elite shortlist for his work “The Descartes Highlands”, a novel that explores the concepts of cosmic indifference and circular time through the stories of three bi-racial men dealing with the idea that they had each been given up for adoption by their American father.

An excerpt from the novel reads:

“My mother and I used to play this game when I was growing up. Every time I had a question she couldn’t answer, she made me write to my imaginary father, Mr. Brezsky, who lived on the moon. I would later learn that Mr. Brezky was my biological father, but he could just as well have been Santa Claus for all I cared. In fact, in 1976, when Santa Claus was down with the flu, it was Mr. Brezsky who left me a mechanical train.

My letters were addressed like this:

Mr. Brezsky
The Descartes Highlands
The Moon

Mother and I always sat out in the backyard whenever the moon was full. The moon always seemed bigger and brighter in Westchester, where there was nothing much else to see. Among the dark patches of the moon were the peaks of the Descartes Highlands, where the Apollo 16 mission scooped samples of rock and soil. You could see the tracks left by the moon rover with a telescope. She told me they were left there in the year I was born. Man’s tracks on the moon, she said, were like my Bethlehem star."

“Though the 2009 prize went to Chinese writer Su Tong for his novel “The Boat to Redemption”, the Consulate General is proud of Mr. Gamalinda for becoming the fourth Filipino to be shortlisted since the literary prize was conceived in 2007,” the Philippine Consulate General said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Syjuco, last year’s Man Asian Literary Prize winner for his novel “Ilustrado”, was chosen by Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) as one of eight fellows in its prestigious Visiting Writers 2009 program.

As Visiting Writer, Syjuco is expected to serve as a cultural ambassador who will help promote the appreciation of the literary arts at HKBU and other local venues through the public readings, lectures and seminars that he will attend.

The alumnus of Columbia University and the Ateneo de Manila is joined by prominent writers from Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the United States in the month-long program.