This invitation was in the mailbox today.

Celebrate World Book and Copyright Day at the Filipinas Heritage Library in Makati. This is a whole-day event with prominent writers like National Artist Virgilio Almario and award-winning fictionists Butch Dalisay and Susan Lara talking about their creative processes and their works.

In the afternoon, there will be an extensive discussion on copyright by experts in the field to enlighten copyright owners (like writers, illustrators and publishers) and copyright users (schools, media, libraries).

The event is free of charge. Please call 920-9853 or 926-8238 and look for Lily or Minda.

Ah, so sorry for the short notice. Our deadline for book orders is this Monday, March 10 and the books should arrive before the end of March. That means, down payments should be fulfilled by Monday or your order will not be included in this month’s shipment. Our next shipment has not been scheduled yet, but after two monthly shipments we just might skip next month and ship again in May.

We will be ordering more of Star Wars: A Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy and The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film which were very popular when they first arrived at the store. If you would like to reserve a copy, please let us know.

Interesting reads for this month are:

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama
Senator Obama has written a book of transforming power. Only by returning to the principles that gave birth to the Constitution, he says, can Americans repair a political process that is broken, and restore to working order a government that has fallen dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “March” comes a novel–inspired by a true story–that traces the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript through centuries of exile and war. This book has been compared many times to The DaVinci Code if only to say that it is much better than the latter.

The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2 by Scott Kelby
In the follow-up to the successful first volume, this book provides photographers with nearly 200 ideas and suggestions for shooting dramatically sharper, more colorful, and more professional-looking photos with a digital camera.

Our Dumb World: The Onion’s Atlas of the Planet Earth (73RD ed.) by The Onion
Packed with beautiful full-color maps and framed with inaccurate essays about the world written by the full “Onion” staff, “Our Dumb World: The Onions Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd Edition” is the first original “Onion” book in eight years–a gut-busting send-up in which no nation escapes unscathed.

Only in February, purchase two books from Cozy Reads Publishing and get a keepsake pouch to match your book (in violet or red). Here’s what we said about the Cozy Reads books: Heartbreak and First Love.

Our deadline for book orders for February 2008 is on January 25. Shipping, as you may know, can be a fickle thing (and may not actually be done by ships) and books can take as long as they want to get to us. It is always best to settle your orders before the deadline.

Y-Fi is a forum on new media for college students (and young professionals) that is happening this Saturday, January 26. According to Mico Halili, organizer of Y-Fi: The 2008 Youth Summit on New Media, he strongly believes that what is called new media — the internet, blogs, MySpace, YouTube, e-Commerce, SMS, 3G, etc. — will have an impact on how the youth will achieve success in the future. Y-Fi is designed to illustrate the current and potential power of new media in various fields.

It may seem strange to you that a bookstore should support such an event. No matter how “old media” we may seem, we cannot deny that the internet has a very big role in how we do business. You are actually reading this post in our blog or through the newsletter which we e-mailed to you. The internet helps us reach our customers and gives us access to important information which, if done the usual way, would just take too long. Soon, it will also help us get our books to you.

To effectively stress the impact of new media on the present and future of arts and commerce, Y-Fi has invited “rock-stars of new media” as guest speakers. They are personalities from advertising, journalism, music, filmmaking and broadcasting who will share their valuable experiences and insights with participants.

Speakers for the event are:
Quark Henares - Filmmaker
Nino Avenido - Musician, Bassist for The Greyhoundz and The Out of Body Special
Malou Mangahas - Editor-in-Chief, GMANews.TV
Dennis Leung - Inquirer Libre

Here are the details for Y-Fi:
Date: Saturday, January 26, 2008
Time: 1:30-5:30pm
Venue: iAcademy, 3/F Philfirst Building, 6764 Ayala Avenue, Makati

For more information, please get in touch with Trina Alejo at 09228989057 or e-mail yfi.registration@gmail.com

To Christine V. who was looking for this book — The e-mail we sent you bounced back.  Please get in touch with us with your correct e-mail address.  Thank you!

I bought my copy of the Special Christmas Issue of PGS today. (Yes, booksellers do buy from themselves.) I think it is easy to read (and like) Christmas stories, maybe because they are about a day that is familiar and memorable to most of us. I wonder if it was also easier for the writers to write Christmas stories given that there is a set premise and situation to work with.

My favorite from this issue was The Magic Christmas Box by MRR Arcega. What made MRR Arcega’s story the best for me was that it had just the right Christmas-sy feel to it. It had unfortunate circumstances, a journey of discovery, wishes granted, a happy coincidence, and a sweet ending. I’m just one of those people who thinks that at the end of a Christmas story, the reader should be smiling.

An excerpt:

I also enjoyed Dominique Cimafranca’s Twilight of the Magi which stars the Three Wise Men of the Nativity story as three magical wise men. Of course, one of my favorite genre stories for the holidays is also a story of the magi — a story by prolific mystery writer Edward D. Hoch which you can find online here.

Congratulations to Kenneth for publishing 21 stories through PGS in 2007. He wanted to encourage Filipinos to read more and write more and he actually did something about it. We hope to see more stories from PGS in 2008! Let’s make sure PGS continues to give us stories by our local authors. PGS:Special Christmas Issue is now available at the store.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Don’t miss our 2007 year-end sale, ongoing until January 15.

ALL books (old and new, big and small) are on sale. New arrivals at 10% off and the rest at 20% off. We have a special sale on books in our Children’s Books shelf and our big General Fiction shelf (there is a small one) — Buy ONE and get the regular 20% discount, buy TWO and get 25% off, buy THREE or MORE and get 40% off.

We now have both large and pocket-sized Moleskine notebooks in every variety: cahiers, reporter notebooks, sketchbooks, ruled, plain, or squared. Large notebooks are priced at only P850.