Cebuano queer literature and Bicolano folk stories have gained international recognition with the global success of R. Joseph Dazo’s short story collection, Ubang Gabii sa Mango Avenue, and Alvin Yapan’s Time of the Eye. The two collections are among the six winners in the inaugural round of PEN Presents x International Booker Prize, a renowned edition of the English PEN Award for sample translations.
In Dazo’s winning collection, translated into English by writer and UP Mindanao faculty member John Bengan, the lives of queer men or “bayot” within Cebuano-speaking communities are explored. The stories had already earned local recognition, including a Palanca Award in 2019 and recognition in CNN Philippines’ “Best Books of the 2010s.”
Yapan’s winning novel blends the folktales of the past and contemporary Bicol, and is translated by Ateneo De Manila University instructor Christian Jil R. Benitez. The original novel was also recognized by the 2006 National Book Awards and won the Juan C. Laya Prize for Best Novel in a Philippine Language.
Both Dazo’s and Yapan’s works have reached international audiences through the PEN Presents x International Booker Prize, which was launched in 2024 by English PEN and the Booker Prize Foundation to highlight works of literature from underrepresented languages and to support translators from the global majority. Dazo and Yapan’s win marks the Philippines’ first victory in the competition. Beyond personal achievement, the award pushes Filipino literature into wider visibility.
Joining them in the inaugural round are Pauline Fan’s translation of The Last Days of Jesselton by Ruhaini Matdarin from Malay (Malaysia); Mayada Ibrahim and Najlaa Eltom’s translation of Ireme by Stella Gaitano from Arabic (Sudan); Tiffany Tsao’s translation of The Born Out of Wedlock Club by Grace Tioso from Indonesian (Indonesia); and Anam Zafar’s translation of Playing with Soldiers by Tariq Asrawi from Arabic (Palestine).
“These samples showcase the very best of what the PEN Presents x International Booker Prize round aims to support. Bringing a range of expertise and with unanimous feeling, the panel and I are very proud to support these translators as their samples make their way into the Anglophone world,” expressed Preti Taneja, the chair of the selection panel and English PEN Translation Advisory co-chair, in a statement.
With this recognition, Filipino literature not only gains a global audience but also sheds a deserving light on the diversity of countries with rich cultures and stories to share.