THE PHILIPPINE Center of the International PEN (Poets & Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) will launch Lakambini Sitoy’s new work of fiction, “Sweet Haven,” on Jan. 30, 5 p.m., at Solidaridad Bookstore, Padre Faura Street, Ermita, Manila.
Originally published in French as “Les Filles de Sweethaven,” it is Sitoy’s first novel and published in the Philippines by Anvil Publishing. It tells the story of how a woman’s dark past comes back to haunt her.
Now based in Denmark where she’s a member of the Danish PEN, Sitoy is one of the Philippines’ most exciting contemporary voices in fiction. Her published works include the books “Mens Rea” (1998); “Jungle Planet” (2005); and “Sweet Haven” (France, 2011, and North America, 2014).
Sitoy received the David T.K. Wong Fellowship from University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom in 2003. She was long-listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2008, and has received a Manila Critics Circle National Book Award and numerous prizes in the annual Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards. She holds an MA from Roskilde University in Denmark, where she resides and teaches English.
The launch is open to the public. Call Solidaridad, 2541068.