THE UST Authors Series marked its tenth year with new releases from the Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (CCWLS) resident fellows.
Creative Writing professors Assoc. Prof. Chuckberry Pascual and Asst. Prof. Benedict Parfan and Filipino department instructor Mark Angeles reflected on their recent offerings, past works and new ventures during the “UST Authors Series: Ang Nawawalang Puso” on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the Tanghalang Teresita Quirino in the Benavides Building.
Angeles talked about “Wasakan ng Puso: Mga Bago at Piling Tula ni Mark Angeles,” a poetry collection on the different types of love. Published in 2024, the collection was written over the course of 15 years with each poem showcasing a different persona.
“‘Yung poems ko diyan, iba-iba ‘yung mga persona. Minsan, sinasabi ng mga readerna kwento ko ‘yung mga nandoon sa mga poem pero merong poem, halimbawa, na isang lesbian na aparador, ganoon. So, iba-iba ‘yung mga persona,” Angeles said.
(My poems there have different personas. Sometimes, readers say that it’s my stories in those poems but there are poems, for example, about a lesbian cabinet. The personas are all different.)
“Beloved Antimatter,” the newest among the three books, is Parfan’s third poetry collection. The UST Publishing House director considered this as his new approach of playing around with lyricism and cohesion.
“Now, I’ve earned the license to break my own rules. This third poetry collection is no longer coherent through and through. It is made up of lyric sequences… So instead of creating one coherent whole, I created a variety of coherences,” Parfan said.
“Ang Nawawalang Barangay” (2024) serves as the continuation to Pascual’s “Ang Nawawala” (2017). The book was originally meant to be the final short story in “Ang Nawawala,” yet Pascual decided to release the sequel as a separate book.
Pascual reminisced on his writing during “Mars, May Zombie,” recalling how writing longer novels challenged him. Being used to writing short stories, he eased himself into it by writing novella, such as “Ang Nawawala.”
The Artlets professor said he was faced with the challenge of piquing readers’ attention with long-form content.
“‘Yung pag-babasa ay tinitingnan ko bilang pag-bawi ng agency ko, bilang pagkatao na hindi lang ako automaton na tagapanood ng ads sa video…kung hindi, ginagamit ko yung atensyon ko para maspayamanin ang sarili ko. Kase ‘pag nagbabasa ka, mas-aktibo kang lumilikha ng kahulugan,”Pascual said.
(I see reading as a reclaiming of my agency as a person who is not an automaton made for watching ads on videos. Instead, I am using my attention to enrich myself. Because when you are reading, you are more active in making meaning.)
CCWLS director Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo, who delivered the opening remarks, described books as an act of “emotional or psychological stripping” that leaves the author vulnerable. She spoke on the celebrations and pride that come with publishing a new book, which she said was the purpose of the UST Authors Series.
The UST Authors Series is a program created by the CCWLS to celebrate and showcase the newest works of its resident fellows. F
