Penguin Classics wants to publish Lualhati Bautista's 'Dekada '70'

Filipino book lovers and lovers of Filipino novels in English may soon have another book to pore over as respected author Lualhati Bautista has revealed that she has received a request from Penguin Classics to publish her iconic work, Dekada '70.

In a post on her Facebook account, Bautista shared part of an e-mail she received from Elda Rotor, the vice-president and publisher of Penguin Classics at Penguin Random House.

The snippet shared by Bautista shows Rotor describing the story of the Bartolome family as “very moving, timely, and propulsive.” Rotor also said that she sees the potential of the book as a classic “for a wider English-language audience, especially students, outside the Philippines.”

Should Bautista agree to the deal, she would be joining a number of other Filipino classics that Rotor has included in the Penguin Classics line. The Filipino-American Rotor became executive editor of the Penguin Classics line back in 2006, when Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere was acquired and about to be published. Since then, Rotor has overseen the publication of Jose Garcia Villa's Doveglion: Collected Poems, Jose Rizal's El Filibusterismo, and Nick Joaquin's The Woman Who Had Two Navels and Tales of the Tropical Gothic.

Rotor herself has connections with the local literary scene, as she is distantly related to Arturo Rotor, regarded as one of the best Filipino short story writers of the 20th century and writer of the short story “Zita.”

She also named F. Sionil Jose's work as influential to her in terms of heritage and history, citing in particular the novel Dusk, or Po-on here in the Philippines. It is the first book in F. Sionil Jose's Rosales saga.

Meanwhile, check out some of 2022's most anticipated books in the gallery below.