Biography of luna sicat cleto

In October 2025, the Republic of the Philippines will be Guest of Honor at the Frankfurt International Book Fair. While efforts for the fair’s programme and translations of Philippine literature will intensify over the next months, in May 2024 the first book ever translated from the Tagalog/Filipino into the German language has been published already. All other translations of Philippine literature into German so far either were translations from the Philippine Spanish (José Rizal’s novels) or from the English (e.g. F. Sionil José, Miguel Syjuco, Ninotchka Rosca or Jose Dalisay).

Luna Sicat Cleto’s poetry collection Bago mo ako ipalaot has been produced by the small Swiss publishing house Edition Tincatinca in Winterthur as a bilingual German-Tagalog edition under the German title Offenes Meer. Luna Sicat Cleto was born in 1967 in Pasig City, Manila, as the daughter of Rogelio R. Sincat and Ellen Sicat, both prolific Philippine authors themselves. She has been active as author, playwright, poet, and academic since the 1980s. She has written the two novels Makinilyang Altar (‘Typewriter-Altar’, 2002) and Mga Prodigal (‘Lost Sons’, 2010) and received the prestigious national Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature for children’s stories, poetry and essays in 1996, 1998, 2004 and 2018, besides several other literary and cultural awards. Since 1991, Luna Sicat Cleto has been teaching creative writing and literature at the University of the Philippines Diliman.[1]

The poems in this collection cover a variety of topics, ranging from guerrilla fights during the Marcos dictatorship, female self-determination on body and sexuality, economic realities or the societal division into a Christian majority and several religious minorities such as the Muslims in the Philippine South or the still existing traditional belief systems in many provinces.

The publishing house Edition Tincatinca was founded in 2019 and must be congratulated for the courage of re

Makinilyang Altar

February 5, 2025
Pakikipagniig — pakikipagtuos — pagdadalamhati — pakikipagkasundo — pagiging. Ganiyan maaaring mabalangkas ang kuwento ni Laya Dimasupil, isa sa pangunahing karakter sa nobelang Makinilyang Altar ni Luna Sicat-Cleto, at ang relasyon nito sa kaniyang ama na si Deo Dimasupil, isang manunulat, mandudula at aktibista, na sa nobela ay nagsisilbing Dalubguro at dating Dekano ng kanilang Dalubhasaan (o ngayo’y tinatawag na Kolehiyo) sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, Diliman.

Isa itong buntong-hininga—malalim, banayad, malaya. Isinatitik at itinago (pilit man o hindi) ni Gng. Sicat-Cleto ang kaniyang mga hinagpis sa likod ng mabubulaklak na mga prosa, na waring kurtina na tinatakpan ang backstage ng isang dulaan, o waring ngiti na ikinukubli ang tunay na nararamdaman. Maaari ba, kung gayon, na mamuhay na lamang tayo sa patsadang ginagawa nating panakip sa katotohanan? Hindi lang ito paghahabi ng buhay nina Laya at Deo (at ni Gloria na rin, ang asawa ng huli), bagkus pagtatagpi-tagpi rin ito ng mga hindi masabing damdamin, ng mga salitang sana’y binitawan—ng mga pahinang gula-gulanit na’t ngunit nabibigyan pa ring kahulugan at kabuluhan ni Luna, may laman man ang mga ito o wala.

Sa pabalat ng libro, maaaninagan ang pigura ng isang babaeng nagmamasid sa di kalayuan mula sa kaniyang kinauupuang pasamano (window sill), kung saan ipinapakita rito ang masinsinang pagninilay at pag-aapuhap ni Laya sa kaniyang sarili — o sa dapat niyang maging; sapagkat, sa kabuuan ng kuwento ay mamamalas ng mambabasa ang pagbagtas din ni Laya sa daanan na minsan nang nilakaran ng kaniyang ama: mula sa kaniyang pagkabihag at pagsamba sa makinilyang altar, sa kaniyang pagiging propesora rin sa UP, sa pagiging manunulat, nobelista at mandudula, tungo sa pagiging malayò (distant) sa kaniyang sariling pamilya’t asawa. Mula rito ay sasalubong din sa iyo ang titulo: Makinilyang Altar; na batay sa pambungad na salita ng isa sa pinakakilalang Pilipinong manunulat na s

Luna Sicat Cleto

Divergent (Divergent, #1)
by
4.14 avg rating — 4,203,620 ratings — published 2011 — 306 editions
Insurgent (Divergent, #2)
by
3.97 avg rating — 1,569,344 ratings — published 2012 — 255 editions
Allegiant (Divergent, #3)
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3.60 avg rating — 1,103,095 ratings — published 2013 — 237 editions
An Abundance of Katherines
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3.51 avg rating — 540,894 ratings — published 2006 — 77 editions
Makinilyang Altar
4.14 avg rating — 64 ratings — published 2002 — 3 editions
Mga Prodigal
3.48 avg rating — 27 ratings — published 2012 — 3 editions
Bago Mo Ako Ipalaot
3.67 avg rating — 12 ratings — published 2017 — 2 editions
Sapantaha: Kalipunan ng mga Maikling Kuwentong Spekulatibo at Imahinatibo
by
3.57 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2017
Huni at Pakpak: Mga Dula, Mga Sanaysay
it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating
Tatlong Proposisyon ng Puting Hangin
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2024
  • Luna Sicat-Cleto was born on
  • Luna Sicat Cleto is

    • Friday, October 18th, 2024

    New literature from the Philippines: Luna Sicat Cleto and Jose Dalisay in conversation with their translators

    12 am – 1 pm, Centre of Words, hall 4.1 (F21), English

    To set the stage for the Philippines' Guest of Honour appearance at Frankfurt Book Fair 2025, Litprom is organizing a discussion with poet Luna Sicat Cleto and author Jose Dalisay as well as their translators Annette Hug and Niko Fröba. 

    Luna Sicat Cleto's poetry collection “Offenes Meer” (translated into German by Annette Hug) was recently published and is the first comprehensive German translation of a work written in Tagalog (Filipino). The bilingual edition, accompanied by a detailed translator’s afterword, provides a deep insight into the personal and political poetry of Luna Sicat Cleto. 

    Already the second novel by Jose Dalisay has been published this year in German translation by Niko Fröba. In “Killing Time in a Warm Place”, Jose Dalisay writes about growing up during the Marcos dictatorship, of police violence and corruption, but also of politicization and resistance. 

    The event, moderated by Julia Rosche, thus offers an exciting conversation about contemporary Filipino literature and its translation into German.

    The conversation will be held in English.

  • Luna Sicat-Cleto is a