Gina Apostol

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Gina Apostol
Gina Apostol Author Portrait by Margarita Corporan .jpg
Photo by Margarita Corporan
BornGina Lourdes Delgado Apostol
Manila, Philippines
Alma mater University of the Philippines Diliman (BA)
Johns Hopkins University (MA)
Notable worksGun Dealers' Daughter (2013)
Insurrecto (2018)
Notable awards Philippine National Book Awards (1997, 2010)
PEN/Open Book (2013)
SpouseArne Tangherlini (died 1998)
Website
ginaapostol.com

Gina Lourdes Delgado Apostol (born 1963) is a Filipino-born writer based in the United States. [1] [2] [3] She won the 2023 Rome Prize in Literature for her proposed novel, The Treatment of Paz. [4] [5]

Contents

Biography

Early life and education

Gina Lourdes Delgado Apostol was born in Manila the second child of her mother, Virginia. She grew up in Tacloban, Leyte, where she studied at Divine World College. Afterwards, she earned a bachelor's degree from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, and a master's degree in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University. [1]

Literary career

Apostol's debut novel Bibliolepsy, published by the University of the Philippines Press, won the 1997 Philippine National Book Award for Fiction. The novel is set in Manila in the 1980s, during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos up to the 1986 People Power Revolution. On its first run, the novel sold out and went out of print. It was republished in the United States by Soho Press in 2022. [6] [7]

Her second novel, The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata won the 2010 Philippine National Book Award for Fiction, as well as the biannual Gintong Aklat Award. It was republished in the United States by Soho Press in 2021. [8]

Her American debut, Gun Dealers' Daughter, won the 2013 PEN/Open Book award [2] and was shortlisted for the 2014 Saroyan International Prize. [9] [1]

Her 2018 novel, Insurrecto , was one of Publishers Weekly's 2018 Ten Best Books, [10] and was shortlisted for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. [11] Portions of her short story, "The Unintended," which was published in the Manila Noir anthology edited by Jessica Hagedorn, appear in the novel. [12]

She has contributed to the Los Angeles Review of Books , [13] The New York Times , [14] [15] [16] and Foreign Policy . [17]

In an interview, Apostol said that her current favorite novelist is Elena Ferrante. [18]

The Nobel Library of the Swedish Academy owns two of her novels, Insurrecto and Gun Dealer's Daughter. [19]

Personal life

In 1998, Apostol's husband, Arne Tangherlini, died. In 2013, Apostol was diagnosed with breast cancer. She subsequently underwent a bilateral mastectomy and chemotherapy. [1]

Awards and honors

Winner

Shortlists

Bibliography

Novels

YearTitlePublisher(s)References
1997 Bibliolepsy University of the Philippines Press (1997);
Soho Press (2022)
2009 The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata Anvil Publishing (2009);
Soho Press (2021)
2010 Gun Dealer's Daughter Anvil Publishing (2010);
W. W. Norton & Company (2012)
2018 Insurrecto Soho Press (2018);
Fitzcarraldo Editions (2019)
[20]
2023 La Tercera Soho Press (2023) [21] [22]

Short stories

Non-fiction

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References

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  11. "Dayton Literary Peace Prize 2019 Shortlist". Short List. Publishers Weekly. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  12. Hagedorn, Jessica Tarahata (2013). Manila Noir. ISBN   9781617751608 . Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  13. "Gina Apostol". Contributors. LARB. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  14. Apostol, Gina (May 19, 2017). "Speaking in Fascism's Tongues". The New York Times. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  15. Apostol, Gina (November 15, 2013). "Surrender, Oblivion, Survival". The New York Times. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  16. Apostol, Gina (April 28, 2012). "In the Philippines, Haunted by History". The New York Times. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
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