New fiction anthology of stories abuot childhood.

Has its close connections with academe enriched or diminished Philippine literature in English? Are there alternatives to academe as literary arbiters? How do contemporary Filipino women writers "perform" the modern wonder tale? These are some of the questions that Hidalgo asks in her latest book.

This two-volume anthology is the sequel to Upon Our Own Ground (2008).

This two-volume anthology is the sequel to Upon Our Own Ground (2008).

The author describes the essays in this collection as "mongrols of a sort"--part personal essay and part literary commentary or criticism. The conversations range over the narratives of several generations of women writers, from Maria Paz Mendoza and Edith Tiempo to F. H. Batacan and Tara Sering; and cover conventional realist novels and short stories, as well as fairy tales, chick lit, crime fiction, and war memoirs.

These essays by Philippine and U.S.-based scholars illustrate the dynamism and complexities of the discursive field of Philippine studies as a critique of vestiges of "universalist" (Western/hegemonic) paradigms; as an affirmation of "traditional" and "emergent" cultural practices; as a site for new readings of "old" texts and "new" popular forms brought into the ambit of serious scholarship; and as a liberative space for new art and literary genres.

This is the first collection of Justine Camacho-Tajonera's poetry, spanning earlier published poems and poems from her blog, Claiming Alexandria, beautifully illustrated by Melissa dela Torre. "This first collection resonates in its deceptive mildness, where it is expansively lyrical but also intellectually grafted to mature commitments as it spans voids and barriers of cultures, broken affinities, and reckless children crossing back to take their due, even as fragile bridges burn." - D.M. Reyes "Justine Camacho-Tajonera explores landscapes of memory and longing with a clear and unwavering eye. Even as she writes of her travels in different parts of the world, her poetry remains deeply personal and engaging. Gift is a splendid first collection." - Jim Pascual Agustin