SANGKATAUHAN SANGKAHAYUPAN 
(HUMANITY BESTIARY)
2016

According to Charlson Ong in his blurb for this short story collection, “[the stories here] expand the social realism that has been a hallmark of fiction in Filipino since the publication of Mga Agos sa Disyerto in the 1960s into fresh and exciting realms. The realism here is no longer the mere cataloguing of sociological details but the blend of folklore, urban legend and popular culture…”

  • Best Fiction Anthology in Filipino, Philippine National Book Award 2017
  • Outstanding Scholarly Work Award for the Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University, 2017

LOVE POTION AND OTHER STORIES
Translated by Randy M. Bustamante
2021

An English translation of all ten stories in Sangkatauhan Sangkahayupan. The translations here are a product of a collaborative process illustrating Bustamante’s sensitivity to the original stories in Filipino, their religious and cultural contexts, and the grace with which he turned them into their own stories in English.

ANG SANDALI NG MGA MATA 
(THIS MOMENT OF EYES)
2006

This novel narrates the history of the Bicol region by chronicling the gradual decline of the wealth of the Buendia family. Binding the stories of three generations are the eyes, the perspective of an albularyo, a local healer, Esteban, who sees in the Buendia family the cycles of violence narrated in the epic Ibalon. History unravels as Esteban gets caught in a supernatural maelstrom of the all-seeing eye of the healer.

  • Best Novel in the Vernacular Language, Philippine National Book Award 2007
  • Outstanding Scholarly Work Award for the Humanities, Ateneo de Manila University, 2008.

SAMBAHIN ANG KATAWAN 
(WORSHIP THIS BODY)
2011

Structured like a song, this novel explores the complex and intertwined relationships of Jaime and Jun, who first met as client and male escort, and the families they eventually raised with Ria and Maya. The coda of the novel sings of the dissonance and harmony of their relationships as they all raise their children as one inclusive family.

  • Writers Prize, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, 2005

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