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Alfred A. Yuson

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Alfred A. Yuson ALFRED A. YUSON Alfred A. Yuson, nicknamed Krip, has authored over 30 books to date, including novels, poetry collections, short fiction, essays, children’s stories, biographies and coffee-table books, apart from having edited various other titles, including several literary anthologies. He has gained numerous distinctions, including the 2009 Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas from UMPIL or Writers Union of the Philippines, the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan (Stalwart of Art and Culture) award from the City of Manila, a Rockefeller Foundation grant for residency at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center in Italy, and the SEAWrite (SouthEast Asian Writers) Award from Thai royalty for lifetime achievement. He has also been elevated to the Hall of Fame of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the Philippines’ most prestigious literary distinction. His latest distinction is the 2018 Gawad Dangal ng Lahi from the Palanca Foundation. In 2008 his draft manuscript “The Music Child” was shortlisted for the MAN Asia Prize for the Novel. An expanded version titled The Music Child and the Mahjong Queen was published by Anvil Publishing, Inc. as his third novel in 2016, and it won the 2017 National Book Award for the Novel in English. He has enjoyed fellowships in various international writing programs, and participated in literary conferences, festivals and reading tours in the United States, Japan, China, Finland, Scotland, Thailand, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa, Colombia, Iran, Nicaragua, Ireland, United Arab Emirates, and Egypt. Literary assemblies Yuson attended in recent years include the the World Poetry Congress in Tehran, Iran in 2011, the 8th International Poetry Festival of Granada in Nicaragua in 2012, the 16th Gerald Manley Hopkins International Conference and Festival in Newbridge, Ireland in 2013, the 4th Poetic Heart reading fest in Dubai in 2015, the International Bookfair in Abu Dhabi in 2016, and the Cairo Literature Festival in 2019. His poetry and fiction have been translated into 10 languages, including the ongoing translation into Arabic of his first novel, Great Phiippine Jungle Energy Café. He is a founding member of the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC), Creative Writing Foundation, Inc. (CWF) and Manila Critics Circle, and served as Chairman of UMPIL (Writers Union of the Philippines). He was a board member of the Movie and Television Ratings and Classification Board (MTRCB) under the Office of the President of the Philippines from 2000 to 2016. Yuson has won a FAMAS Award and a Catholic Mass Media Award (CMMA) for a feature-length film screenplay. He has also been a documentary filmmaker and scriptwriter, as well as a book, magazine and newspaper editor and designer. He serves as Philippines Editor for MANOA: A Pacific Journal of International Writing, published by the University of Hawaii. He contributes a weekly arts and culture column to a national broadsheet, The Philippine Star. He taught fiction and poetry at Ateneo de Manila University, where he held the Henry Lee Irwin Professorial Chair. f BIBLIOGRAPHY: BOOKS authored by Alfred A. Yuson Sea Serpent, Monsoon Press, 1980 (poetry) Dream of Knives, Philippine Literary Arts Council, 1986 (poetry) Great Philippine Jungle Energy Cafe, Book Development Association of the Philippines, 1988; reprinted by University of the Philippines Press, 1998; 3rd edition by Anvil Publishing, Inc., 2016 (novel) The Boy Who Ate Stars, Cacho Publishing House, Inc., 1991 (children’s literature) The Music Child & Other Stories, Anvil Publishing, Inc., 1991 (short fiction) Confessions of A Q.C. House-husband & Other Privacies, Anvil Publishing, Inc., 1991 (essays) Trading in Mermaids, Anvil Publishing, Inc., 1993 (poetry) Junior Starfish and the Rainbow, Bookmark, Inc. (co-authored with daughter Mirava Coree M. Yuson), 1995 (children’s literature) FVR, Sin, Erap, Jawo & Other Peeves, Anvil Publishing, Inc., 1997 (essays — political satire) Voyeurs & Savages, Anvil Publishing, Inc., 1998 (novel) In Defense of Democracy: The Rene de Villa Story, SNA Printers, Inc., 1998 (a biographical sketch) Mothers Like Elephants, Anvil Publishing, Inc., 2000 (poetry) The Word on Paradise, Anvil Publishing, Inc., 2001 (literary essays) Paragons, 23 CEOs on Corporate Ethics, FINEX, 2001 (feature-interviews on corporate governance) Bencab, Mantes Publishing, Inc, 2002 (biography) Eight Stories, University of the Philippines Press, 2002 (collection of short fiction) Hairtrigger Loves: 50 Poems on Woeman, University of the Philippines Press, 2002 (poetry) Philippines: Islands of Enchantment, Periplus Editions, Singapore, 2003 (travel book) Love’s A Vice / Bisyo ang Pag-Ibig: Translations into English of 60 Poems by Mike L. Bigornia, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2004 (translation) To Leave a Good Name: The Legacy of Alfonso T. Yuchengco, Water Dragon, Inc. (co- authored with Nick Joaquin), 2005 (biography) JOBO: The Life & Times of Jose. B. Fernandez Jr., 2005 (biography) Luto, Linis, Laba, UST Publishing House, 2005 (full-length play in Filipino) Bencab: Nude Drawings, Anvil Publishing, Inc, 2008 (text and commentary on art) Poems Singkwenta'y-Cinco, Anvil Publishing, Inc, 2010 (poetry) Lush Life: Essays 2001-2010, University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2011 (essays) Islands of Words & Other Poems, University of Santo Tomas Publishing House, 2015 (poetry) The Music Child & The Mahjong Queen, Anvil Publishing, Inc., 2016 (novel) In the Footsteps of St. Ignatius of Loyola: The Life of Bishop Federico Escaler, S.J., D.D., Jesuit Communications and Ernest Escaler, 2017 (biography) Lineage, Vision, Empire: Don Francisco “Paquito” Ortigas, Jr.,1 Reyes Publishing, 2018 (biography) f .
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