Lissa, Marvin + I met Miguel Syjuco in the bar of the Hotel Standard where we asked him our first FF10 (10 questions we ask every author we interview for our journal, Flying Fists). Then, Lissa did some follow-up questions for Tayo Magazine. For those of you that might not know, Miguel Syjuco is a rising star in the publishing world. After winning both the Palanca award (Philippine's equivalent of the Pulitzer prize in fiction) + the Man Asian Literary Award in 2008, Miguel has been gaining a lot of attention. His success story sounds like something in a movie: as he explained at his reading at the LA Public Library 4 hours later, 1 week after winning the Man Asian Literary Award, he got an agent (Melanie Jackson) + 2 weeks after that, a book contract. Yes, it's enough to make you drool.
But what's great about MS, is that the hype hasn't gone to his head. He's a nice, funny, interesting, smart, personable + all around cool dude. Even better, his attitude towards race + fiction: culture + fiction should influence but not control our writing. Anyway, I won't spoil the rest of the interview since we're including it in our first issue of Flying Fists coming out in the fall, but for now, just know that Miguel Syjuco, the man + the writer, is an awesome guy.
When I gave him my copy of Ilustrado to sign, telling him it better be good, he wrote:
Jackson,
Stay in school + don't do drugs. I look forward to your signing your book for me in turn one day soon. Keep writing + take no shit from nobody, man.
Miguel
But what's great about MS, is that the hype hasn't gone to his head. He's a nice, funny, interesting, smart, personable + all around cool dude. Even better, his attitude towards race + fiction: culture + fiction should influence but not control our writing. Anyway, I won't spoil the rest of the interview since we're including it in our first issue of Flying Fists coming out in the fall, but for now, just know that Miguel Syjuco, the man + the writer, is an awesome guy.
When I gave him my copy of Ilustrado to sign, telling him it better be good, he wrote:
Jackson,
Stay in school + don't do drugs. I look forward to your signing your book for me in turn one day soon. Keep writing + take no shit from nobody, man.
Miguel