After the book fair, another NBA season

The book fair at the still intact world trade center along Roxas Blvd. In pasay city came and went on the first Sunday of September, and with it the annual national book awards handed out by the Manila Critics Circle, now on its 24th year.

It was a feast of books on the ground floor where publishers both established and obscure offered bargains and rare buys for the discriminating reader, as well on the mezzanine where the critics feted on one afternoon around 30 of the best books that were published in 2004.

The big winner was the University of Sto. Tomas Press which was named publisher of the year, having won awards in major categories poetry, drama, short and long fiction, and a citation for the "History of the Bisayan People" series by Fr. Cantius Kobak. The UST Press is already halfway its target of coming out with 400 titles by year 2011, the pontifical university’s quadricentennial.

A notable double winner was "Ginto: History wrought in gold", published by Bangko Sentral, which topped the social sciences category and was also co-winner for best design along with a multidimensional poetry book.

"Markets" by Karla Delgado won for food along with the Adobo book, aside from being mentioned in the citation for publisher Centro Escolar University for its series of handsome coffeetable books on aspects distinctly Philippine.

There were some categories where both nominees won, and others where only one was given the award over several other finalists.

Greg Brillantes was a no-show after winning in the essay category for "Looking for Jose Rizal in Madrid". He had to be at a wedding in Bulacan, according to Maricor Baytion of the Ateneo de Manila University Press, who received the award for him.

Brillantes’ co-winner Sylvia Mayuga was there with child and apo, not to mention ex-hubby, and her acceptance speech was like her column pieces illuminating and touching, clueing us in on why she has never given up on both Avenida and this seemingly god-forsaken country.

An exceptional category with strong choices that almost had the critics stumped was anthology, but "What the Water Said" by the Alon Collective, made up mostly of La Salle graduate students and poets, was clearly head and shoulders above the rest, including worthy finalists like "When We Were Little (Women)" edited by Rhona Lopa-Macasaet and Patricia Vergel de Dios.

An Alon member, Vince Groyon, was co-winner in short fiction for "On Cursed Ground and other stories" with the late Wilfrido Nolledo’s selected stories put out posthumously by UST Press. Groyon also designed the Alon book, which was finalist for best design.

Winner for music was "Pinoy Jazz Traditions" by semi-retired jazz drummer Richie Quirino, who found that the computer and a researcher-journalist’s instruments were kinder to his arthritis than the drumsticks. Until the last minute he could not believe he had won, "never in (his) wildest dreams."

The Paul Zafaralla-edited "Rice in the Seven Arts" won for art studies, for paying tribute to the national staple and its role in the national psyche. It has been a good year for Sir Paul Z., humanities teacher and our former colleague at the UP Los Baños, who also was given recognition by the university for being one of its outstanding alumni along with Chit Juan of Figaro, among others.

We ran into citation winner (for the Anvil published Lola Basyang series of children’s books) Christine Bellen at the exit, who requested that we correct something we wrote on an article on Noel Cabangon as Basyang. She and not Noel is the librettist of the musical for writing the lyrics; Noel wrote the music and basically fitted the lyrics into it.

Having done our modest part in handing out some trophies in designated categories (Richie, Paul, Sylvia and Maricor) and limiting our read citations to a terse one-sentence blurb, we opted to take a short break and peek at the book fair itself on the ground floor of the WTC.

Being let loose among books at a fair one feels like a child again or, more precisely, like a cat in an oyster shop. One doesn’t know where to look first, such that one short paseo while playing truant to the book awards is simply not enough time to go through all the shelves and stalls, racks and bins where possible rare finds await. Such a good mood pervades that we even accommodate the occasional solicitous salesperson handing out freebie magazines and assorted flyers on "special offers" and other signs of commerce worthy of our, good afternoon Ma’m, Sir, consideration.

Having been tipped off by kindred spirits we took a look see at the Different Bookstore where various Manga comic books were going at bargain prices, around a fourth of their listed price. So instead of more than P400 per, several Lupin III titles could be bought for P95 a piece to relive the adventures of the master thief and his buxom friend Fujiko, which anime is now hard to find on terrestrial television.

At the Bookmark stall there appeared to be a fire sale with coffeetable and art books going for anywhere from P100 to P500, some copies of which we last saw in their now shuttered store at the corner of Estrada and Taft Avenue in Malate across De La Salle: "Cebu, a place for all seasons", "Virgin of Peñafrancia, mother of Bicol", "a Philippine album of American era photographs, 1900-1930", even a novel entitled "The Face of the Enemy".

At the Fully Booked was a giveaway company magazine with reviews in store, and at the New Day bargain bins some nearly dog-eared copies of books by the late great Zeneida Amador and Alfrredo Salanga, the latter a founding member of the critics circle, where at the mezzanine they were just about wrapping up proceedings after some two hours of scattered applause and short speeches on varied concerns, mostly literary.

We made it back in time to catch novel prize winner Azucena Uranza speaking at the podium, one of three winners of the Jaime Laya prize for novel. The Laya prize offers P20,000 each for a novel in Filipino and in English, adding to the P10,000 for the Alfonso T. Ongpin prize for best art book, this year won by "Album: Islas Filipinas, 1663-1888" by Jose Cariño and Sonia Ner.

Author of "Women of Tammuz", Uranza shared her 20 grand with Leoncio Deriada, who won for "People on Guerrero Street". Abdon Balde got his P20,000 intact for "Hunyango sa Bato".

The Laya Prize, instituted by the MCC this year, should encourage more of our fictionists to come out with their works. The Ongpin prize, which has been around for several years, serves to underscore that putting out books is in itself something of an art.

So ended another NBA season, as MCC chair Ophie Dimalanta succinctly put it, with her beloved Sto. Tomas emerging champion. And though books and their purchase are getting to be more of a luxury, reading remains a necessary balm to the spirit, especially during times of great vexation.