UP ICW and Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book Awards announces 2007 shortlist

By Arvin Abejo Mangohig

A brilliant debut for any artist goes a long way. The Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book Award is probably the only award that recognizes the first published works of Filipino writers. The exclusivity alone that the award confers is much coveted. What more then the weight of acknowledgement from the established writers on its panel of judges. The award is coordinated by the UP Institute of Creative Writing and was established by the family of Gonzalo Gonzalez, former UP President and a writer in his own right.

Dr. Jose Neil Garcia, Dr. Jaime An Lim and Prof. Vicente Groyon, himself a winner of the award, have come up with the shortlist for 2007 (only works in English were screened, as the award switches between languages every year). The shortlist follows: Salamanca by Dean Francis Alfar (ADMU Press), Barefoot in Fire by Barbara-Ann Gamboa Lewis (Tahanan Books), Love, Desire, Children etc by Rica Bolipata-Santos (Milflores), From Inside the Berlin Wall by Helen Yap (UP Press) and Kapwa: The Self in the Other by Katrin de Guia (Anvil).

This year’s winner will be announced on Writers Night in UP Diliman. The annual gathering will be held at the Teatro Hermogenes Ylagan, Bulwagang Rizal on December 8, Saturday. The program will start on 6 p.m. Gizela Gonzalez-Montinola herself will be on hand to award the P50,000 check and certificate to the winner. UP ICW director Vim Nadera and the ICW associates will also be present to witness the winner’s debut in the literary scene.