Cordero launches new book of poetry

In a simple ceremony held in Ateneo de Naga University last January 31, 2008, Bikol poet Kristian Sendon Cordero launched his third collection of poems entitled Pusuanon: Mga Bersong Bikol published by Goldprint Publishing House, a local publishing house in Naga City.

In attendance where students, faculty members, booklovers and writer-friends of Cordero who at the young age of 24 has garnered local and national awards including the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, Homelife Poetry Contest, Premio Tomas Arejola Para Sa Literaturang Bikolnon, Sawikaan: Salita ng Taon and the Madrigal Gonzales Best First Book Award in 2006 for his debut collection, Mga Tulang Tulalang: Piling Tula sa Filipino, Bikol at Rinconada published in 2004. He was also the recipient of Melchor Villanueva Centennial Awards for Bikol Literature.

Luis Cabalquinto, a Bikol writer now based in New York described Cordero as one of the bright lights of the recent Bikolnon writing renaissance. He described Cordero’s poems as intimate sketches and portraits of the people and land of his birth and the poet does this with a confident hand, cool detachment and, very often, with tongue-in-cheek humor. Fully in command of his material, Cordero's poetic diction deftly fuses real and surreal elements to elicit from the thoughtful reader not only high amusement but also deep understanding.

Mature for his age, Cordero surprises us with his poetic invention, his audacious use of the Bikol language in this new volume of Bikol poems. Pusuanon carries the English translations of Marne L. Kilates and H. Francisco V. Peñones Jr.

For more information and book orders please text 09175012287 or leave a message to www.santigwar.blogspot.com