Butch Dalisay at the Vatican

Filipino writer and University of the Philippines professor Jose “Butch” Dalisay, Jr., was among the five shortlisted authors in the inaugural 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize. The $10,000 cash prize was awarded in Hong Kong last Saturday to Chinese writer Jiang Rong for the novel Wolf Totem.

The three other shortlisted authors included Reeti Gadekar of India (Families at Home), Nu Nu Yi Inwa of Burma (Smile As They Bow), and Chinese-Indonesian Xu Xi (Habit of a Foreign Sky).

While Dalisay’s novel Soledad’s Sister did not win the grand prize, the experience was fruitful in that he and the other authors “received many inquiries from publishers and agents eager to publish our work for broader audiences beyond Asia,” he wrote in his blog. Days before the awarding, Dalisay had said he was “elated enough to be on the shortlist.”

Soledad’s Sister has been described as “full of narrative surprise, artfully put together and richly observed.” The judges said the novel “offers an unillusioned, compassionate portrayal of contemporary society from a Philippines perspective, and is utterly compelling. The characters engage us in the epic, yet very local nature of their quest for dignity and justice. A work of warmth, humanity and confidence.”

The best of Asian literature
The Man Asian Literary Prize aims to recognize the best of new Asian literature and is sponsored by London-based global financial services firm Man Group Plc.

More than 240 entries, originally in English as well as translations, were received from established and first-time authors throughout Asia, particularly India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

Jiang’s winning entry, Wolf Totem, was described as “memorable” and “rendered in vivid detail,” by Adrienne Clarkson, chair of the judges.

The “panoramic novel of life on the Mongolian grasslands during the Cultural Revolution” is a “passionate argument about the complex interrelationship between nomads and settlers, animals and human beings, nature and culture,” Clarkson says further.

Originally published in Chinese by the Changjiang Art and Culture Publishing House, Wolf Totem has been widely acclaimed in the mainland. The book’s English language rights was acquired by Penguin in 2006. The English version will be released in March 2008.

Born in the province of Jiangsu, Jiang was among the first wave of intellectuals who moved to the countryside as volunteers in 1967. For eleven years, he lived with nomadic communities on the Chinese border of Inner and Outer Mongolia. In 1978, Jiang returned to Beijing where he assumed an academic position at a local university. He has since retired and is now based in Beijing.

Photo from Wikipedia