AlIE(N)ATION/TMI BOOK FOR LAUNCHING

ALIE(N)ATION TO BE LAUNCHED

In pursuit of the commitment of TMI Global (Guild of Ilokano Writers Global) to bring to world literature the best of works by Ilokanos through a sustained translation program, this publishing organization of writers with country chapters in the Philippines, Australia, and the United States, will launch its newest book, Alie(n)ation: Nation and Nationalism in Ilokano Exilic Poetics.

Edited, translated, and with a critical introduction by Aurelio S. Agcaoili, program coordinator for Ilokano at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, president of Nakem Conferences, and executive director of Nakem Youth, the book gathers the poetic works and nonfiction narratives of writers who have moved from their birthplaces to other places including those who immigrated to other countries.

Alie(n)ation is TMI Global’s second critical anthology, and its second in collaboration with other writers organizations, including, Rekuerdo/Memento, released in November 2009 by the Ilokano Writers Association of Hawaii/GUMIL Hawaii, in collaboration with the Academy for Ilokano and Amianan Studies; and Kallautang: Poetics of Diversity, Displacement, and Diaspora. Both books have been edited, translated, and with a critical introduction by Agcaoili.

Alie(n)ation will be launched during the Ilokano Cultural Festival organized and hosted by TMI Global on March 6, 2010, at the Pagoda Hotel International Ballroom, Honolulu, Hawaii.

At this festival, a play, “Iti Nagan ti Ama/In the Name of the Father”, written and directed by Agcaoili, will be premiered.

A combined cast from TMI Global, GUMIL Hawaii, and Nakem Youth will act in the play.

"Iti Nagan ti Ama/In the Name of the Father" questions age-old declarations on sexuality and gender, domestic violence, feminism, male dominance and privilege, and human liberation.

The play is the third written and directed by Agcaoili that zeroes in on issues related to domestic violence.

"Our Word, Our World," a dramatic recitation of monologues based on the results of the creative writing workshop on DV and cancer awareness conducted by Agcaoili in 2008, was shown at Tenney Theatre in Honolulu at a Men's Day celebration in February 2008.

Another play, "Ruk-at/Unshackling" was shown at an Ilokano Culture Festival organized and hosted by GUMIL Hawaii in February 2009 at the Pagoda Hotel in Honolulu.