Kenneth Yu: Reading Idol

Mr. Kenneth "Kyu" Yu, publisher and editor of Philippine Genre Stories, dropped by the GS Learning Resource Center last Tuesday, September 30, 2008. He was in the Xavier School campus as a visiting author to Fr. Johnny Go's grade 7 GEMS English class.

As a student in Xavier School, Kenneth Yu's favorite hang-out place was the library. Inspired by a book of myths, he and some friends adapted and wrote their own collection of Greek myths. The library, fortunately, still has a copy of their book project. Go here for the historical profile of Kenneth Yu's first foray in writing, editing and publishing. It's a story every teacher and school librarian will love!

Now here's an excerpt of an interview that Kyu lent us via email.

What book would you like to see in electronic format available online and why?

Hmm...I'm not sure. Being a publisher, I guess I'd like to see all books in electronic format, but in a legal way. I'm afraid of piracy affecting writers and publishers and taking away what is due them. But in any case, I would love to see all works whose copyright has legally lapsed to be made available in electronic format. So, Shakespeare, Dante, Poe, Hugo, Stevenson, and other classics should be made available. In fact, I think they are, via www.gutenberg.org. :) Hooray! There's no excuse now to not read these classics, as long as you've got a computer and an internet connection.

Amidst the busyness of daily library work and routine, we hope to whip up a write up on Kyu as our reading idol for the month of October.