Ateneo University Press takes home 7 awards at the 41st National Book Awards

Yñiga by Glenn Diaz

Best Novel in English

“Diaz, like all great novelists of history, knows that to disappear–and to be disappeared—is a political question as much as an existential one. This moving, remarkable novel—as dense, meditative and engrossing as the forests its characters are haunted by, and as dryly funny as the jokes we tell ourselves to survive—is as much a visceral, unforgettable journey into one woman’s fraught familial legacy of disappearance and resistance, as well as a deeply poignant mediation on nation-building itself—and its own fraught familial legacy of disappearance, and resistance.” –Elain Castillo, author of America is Not the Heart and How to Read Now   

Song of the Mango and Other New Myths by Vida Cruz-Borja

National Artist Cirilo F Bautista Prize for Best Book of Short Fiction in English

“Cruz’s marvelous imagination and distinct voice—warm, specific, questioning, knowing—infuse this long awaited first collection with more than mere speculation. This modern myth-making, assembling not just world-that-could-be but rather world-than-should-be, inviting readers to feel both danger and delight and see personal possibilities in the impossible.” –Dean Francis Alfar, author of Salamanca and The Kite of Stars and Other Stories 

Kalandrakas Part 1, 1890-1945: Stories and Storytellers of/on Regions in Mindanao, 1890-1990 and Kalandrakas Part 2, 1946-1990: Stories and Storytellers of/on Regions in Mindanao, 1890-1990, edited by Ricardo M De Ungria 

Best Anthology in English

These collections of stories include all genres of literature on Mindanao. It is both an ongoing recuperative archival project and a literary map for and by storytellers from the island’s six regions. Thus, a collection, as well as a home, for the uncertainties, impermanence, imperfections, and some imprecisions, in the preservation and nurturance of diverse peoples’ histories, arts, and literature. 

Plus/+ at Iba Plus, Maramihan: New Philippine Nonfiction on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identities, edited by Rolando B. Tolentino and Chuckberry J. Pascual 

Best Anthology in Filipino

Ang mga personal na sanaysay ay mga politikal na pag-akda ng pagiging LGBTQIA+ ng bawat manunulat-mamamayan-tao na kalahok sa antolohiyang ito, dahil ang mga ito ay tungo sa pag-ako at muling pag-ako ng sariling identidad-pagkamamamayan-pagkatao. Hindi lamang ito pangungumpisal kundi pagiging testigo sa sariling katotohanan ng naging kasaysayan, tunguhin, at pagtatanggol sa mga individual na katotohanan ng pagiging dehado natin sa mundong ibabaw. Ang pag-eensayo nito ay pag-eensayo sa kinakailangang rebolusyon o kontraryong imaginary ng pagkamamamayan sa heterosexualidad at estado.  

Isang Dalumat ng Panahon ni Christian Jil R. Benitez

Best Book of Literary Criticism/Cultural Studies 

“Bilang pundasyonal na kategorya ng anumang kritikal at pampanitikang pag-aaral, isang mahalagang sanggunian ang ginagawa ritong pag-aaral ni Benitez sa kategorya ng panahon. May pambihirang sinsin, tiyaga, at pagyakap dito sa pananaw-sa-mundong Filipino nang nakaugat sa katutubo at mitolohiko. Nandito rin ang pag-asa na may mga dalumat na mananatiling maaasahan at mapagkakatiwalaan sa gitna ng kabuwayan ngayon ng mga kaisipan at sistema ng pag-iisip.” –Alvin B Yapan, author of Sangkatauhan, Sangkahayupan: Mga Kuwento

Transfiguring Mindanao: A Mindanao Reader, edited by Jose Jowel Canuday and Joselito Sescon; book design by Karl Castro

Elfren S. Cruz Prize For Best Book in the Social Sciences

Best Book Design

“This volume is a landmark in studies of Mindanao, taking its subject in the broadest possible context. Massively documented, with almost three dozen individual substantive chapters, it will serve as an invaluable reference for those undertaking almost any inquiry into the southern Philippines. Ranging from first-person narratives to dense chapters with tables full of numbers, many different styles are used. Often innovative, authors try to avoid a Manila-centric gaze and instead focus on the particularities of an incredibly variegated landscape of peoples, languages, economies, and cultures. In this light, the authors do not speak with one voice but rather allow a serious reader to see a range of viewpoints from Mindanao archipelago.” –Steven Rood, author of The Philippines: What Everyone Needs to Know