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Philippines' Miguel Syjuco wins Man Asian Book award for 'Ilustrado'
Miguel Syjuco of the Philippines won the second annual Man Asian Literary Prize for Ilustrado, a debut novel that begins as a murder mystery and expands into a family saga spanning 150 years of his country's history.
- Bloomberg
- Published: 09:05 November 14, 2008
Hong Kong: Miguel Syjuco of the Philippines won the second annual Man Asian Literary Prize for Ilustrado, a debut novel that begins as a murder mystery and expands into a family saga spanning 150 years of his country's history.
"This is a life-changing experience for me," Syjuco said in accepting the $10,000 award on Thursday night at a black-tie dinner at Hong Kong's Peninsula Hotel.
He recalled how he spent three years wrestling with self-doubt to write the book.
Syjuco, 31, was chosen over four other finalists, Kavery Nambisan of India for The Story That Must Not Be Told; India's Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi for The Lost Flamingoes of Bombay; Yu Hua of China for Brothers; and Filipino Alfred A. Yuson for The Music Child.
The vote for Ilustrado was unanimous, said the chair of the judging panel, Adrienne Clarkson, who praised the book's stylistic originality.
"It is very ambitious in what it tried to do, and it succeeded,
she said. "The book gathered fragments of reality, poetry and criticism and wove them into a family saga."
In Ilustrado, Syjuco tells the story of Miguel, the acolyte of a prominent man of Philippine letters, Crispin Salvador.
The author has been found dead in the Hudson River, and soon Miguel is investigating both his death and the disappearance of a manuscript about the corruption of rich Filipino families.
He winds up tracking Salvador's life through his poetry, novels, memoirs, interviews and more, building a narrative that spans four generations of history.
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