Lualhati Bautista

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Lualhati Bautista

Born December 2, 1946 (1946-12-02) (age 61)
Tondo, Manila, Philippines Flag of the Philippines
Occupation Novelist; movie and television scriptwriter

Lualhati Torres Bautista (b. Manila, Philippines December 2, 1945) is one of the foremost Filipino female novelists in the history of contemporary Philippine Literature. Her novels include Dekada '70, Bata, Bata, Pa'no Ka Ginawa?, and Gapô.

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[edit] Biography

Bautista was born in Tondo, Manila, Philippines on December 2, 1945 to Esteban Bautista and Gloria Torres. She graduated from Emilio Jacinto Elementary School in 1958, and from Torres High School in 1962. She was a journalism student at the Lyceum of the Philippines, but dropped out even before she finished her freshman year. She has served as vice-president of the Screenwriters Guild of the Philippines and chair of the Kapisanan ng mga Manunulat ng Nobelang Popular. She became a national fellow for fiction of the University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center in 1986. Also in 1986, she was invited to participate in the US-International Visitors Program, multi-regional project on American film. The following year, she participated in the ASEAN writers conference held in Singapore. [1]

[edit] Work

In addition to being a novelist, Lualhati Bautista is also a movie and television scriptwriter and a short story writer. Her first screenplay was Sakada (Seasonal Sugarcane Workers), a story written in 1975 that exposed the plight of Filipino peasants. Bautista has received recognition from the Philippines' Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature and the Surian ng Wikang Pambansa in 1987. Her award-winning screenplays include Bulaklak sa City Jail (1984), Kung Mahawi Man ang Ulap (1984), Sex Object (1985). For screenplay writing, she has received recognition from the Metro Manila Film Festival (best story-best screenplay), Film Academy Awards (best story-best screenplay), Star Awards (finalist for best screenplay), FAMAS (finalist for best screenplay), and URIAN awards. Two of her short stories have also won the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, Tatlong Kuwento ng Buhay ni Juan Candelabra (Three Stories in the Life of Juan Candelabra), first prize, 1982; and Buwan, Buwan, Hulugan mo Ako ng Sundang (Moon, Moon, Drop Me a Sword), third prize, 1983. Bautista also authored the television dramas Daga sa Timba ng Tubig (The Mouse in the Bucket of Water) (1975) and Isang Kabanata sa Libro ng Buhay ni Leilani Cruzaldo (A Chapter in the Book of Life of Leilani Cruzaldo) (1987). The latter won best drama story for television from the Catholic Mass Media Awards.

Bautista was honored by the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings on March 10, 2004 during the 8th Annual Lecture on Vernacular Literature by Women. In 2005, the Feminist Centennial Film Festival presented her with a recognition award for her outstanding achievement in screenplay writing. In 2006, she was recipient of the Diwata Award for best writer by the 16th International Women's Film Festival of the UP Film Center.

She is also the only Filipino included in a book on foremost International Women Writers published in Japan, 1991.

[2]

[edit] Translations of her novels

Excerpts from Lualhati Bautista's novels have been anthologized in Tulikärpänen a book of short stories written by Filipino women published in Finland by the The Finnish-Philippine Society (FPS), a non-governmental organization founded in 1988. Tulikärpänen was edited and translated by Riitta Vartti, et al. In Firefly: Writings by Various Authors, the English version of the Finnish collection, the excerpt from the Filipino novel Gapô was given the title "The Night in Olongapo" while the excerpt from Bata, Bata, Pa'no Ka Ginawa? was titled "Children's Party."[3][4][5][6]

A full translation of Bautista's best works could break the sound barrier of Filipino writing in international publishing. Some speculate, however, that no such translations have been published because her use of simple yet incisive language to describe complex social and spiritual conditions in the Philippines is often dismissed in Philippine literary circles.[3]

[edit] Works

[edit] Novels

  • Gapô (1980)
  • Dekada '70: Ang Orihinal at Kumpletong Edisyon (1983)[7]
  • Bata, Bata...Pa'no Ka Ginawa? (1984)
  • Desisyon
  • Ang Kabilang Panig ng Bakod
  • Hugot sa Sinapupunan
  • Desaparesidos (2008)

[edit] Short fiction collections

  • Buwan, Buwan, Hulugan Mo Ako ng Sundang: Dalawang Dekada ng Maiikling Kuwento

[edit] Screenplays

  • Sakada
  • Kung Mahawi Man ang Ulap
  • Bulaklak sa City Jail
  • Kadenang Bulaklak
  • The Maricris Sioson Story
  • Nena
  • Bata, Bata...Pa'no Ka Ginawa?: The Screenplay
  • Dekada 70

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lualhati Torres Bautista: The Author, Geocities.com, date retrieved 27 May 2007
  2. ^ Lualhati Bautista, Ateneo Library of Women's Writings, date retrieved: 27 May 2007
  3. ^ a b Firefly: Writings by Various Authors (Lualhati Bautista Translated into Finnish and English), Edited and Translated by Riitta Vartti, et.al Our Own Voice June 2001 (OOV Bookshelf 2001), date retrieved: 27 May 2007
  4. ^ Bata, Bata Pa'no Ka Ginawa? (Lea's Story): Title Page from Geocities.com, date retrieved: 27 May 2007
  5. ^ English Language Summary of Bata, Bata Pa'no Ka Ginawa? (Lea's Story) from Geocities.com, date retrieved: 27 May 2007
  6. ^ Vartti, Riitta (editor). Preface to the Finnish anthology Tulikärpänen - filippiiniläisiä novelleja (Firefly - Filipino Short Stories), Kääntöpiiri: Helsinki, Finland 2001/2007, retrieved on: April 14, 2007
  7. ^ "Dekada ’70: A Book Review", The EDSA Revolution Website, ThinkQuest.org, date retrieved: 27 May 2007

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

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