Author of the Month: Joel Donato Jacob (2 of 2)

Here is part two of the blog interview with Mr. Joel Donato Jacob. He is the author of the 2018 Scholastic Asian Book Award winning novel Wing of the Locust and the Best Asian Short Stories 2019 Editor’s Choice, Artifacts from the Parent. He lives in Bay, Laguna with his mother and dogs. He enjoys the outdoors, cooking, and fitness.

3. What was the most challenging experience (doubts, blocks, dead ends) you had when writing Wing of the Locust?

I need space to write, the home space and the workplace is distracting. So I needed to quit work and spend 6 weeks in a resort to finish the manuscript. Quite a few people think that researching about the setting must have been hard work, but that was fun and exciting! Poring through books to rebuild an image of a Tagalog civilization was fun. But life gets in the way, having the financial liberty to walk away from life to create art is not a privilege I have now, I had it once but with a lot of support from institutions, family and friends. I am looking for grants and residencies so I can focus on writing again.

4.   Name five books that gave you hope or healing.

Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn; what it means to be kind/a hero. 

Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life; what it means to love. 

Haruki Murakami’s Wild Sheep Chase; what it means to be a self-absorbed jerk. 

J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye; what it means to be a pretentious fake. 

Doreen Gamboa Fernandez’ Tikim; and what it means to be a post-colonial cultural re-/creator.

5. I look forward to your future works and projects. What have you been busy with since the launch of Wing of the Locust? Please share about them and the advocacies you are a part of.

I am writing the sequel to Wing of the Locust; It’s only been a few months since it came out last December 202 but quite a few people read the first book and were asking for the second. Please look forward to that. But you can read a prequel here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-A_Qk7U8g32xZRl43YsG_Rqq2wAf4SoS/view?usp=sharing it is an anthology of LGBTQIA+ SFF stories from South East Asia produced/funded by the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus https://aseansogiecaucus.org.

BookBed https://bookbed.org is a reading and writing community that has helped me in the past with writing exercises and a safe space to be read and receive feedback.

I volunteer as a Community Based HIV Screening Motivator and Counselor for LoveYourself https://loveyourself.ph

I will be mentoring for the GlobalGrace Artists in Residence program (https://www.facebook.com/YMCARINALIORG/posts/493475065363722)

I will try to sit in with the Palihang LIRA more often this year. Everyone is encouraged to apply, Filipino Literature educators and poets. (https://www.facebook.com/PalihangLIRA/posts/4166298836722621)

I will be part of the ClarionWest workshop this year, so please send prayers (or money/groceries hahaha) (https://www.clarionwest.org/2021/02/24/announcing-the-clarion-west-class-of-2021/) I will be both exhausted and poor hahaha, but I wanted this.

Please buy my book Wing of the Locust:

https://dearbooks.ph/

https://www.fullybookedonline.com/

I contributed to these anthologies:

Buy Best Asian Short Stories 2019 https://singapore.kinokuniya.com/bw/9789811435393

Ombak is free to download: http://www.ombak.org/

    Outsiders Within: https://www.amazon.com/Outsiders-Within-Dave-Higgins/dp/1912674122/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=outsiders+within&qid=1616552557&sr=8-2

     All Worlds Wayfarer: Through Other Eyes:
https://www.amazon.com/Through-Other-Eyes-experience-Anthologies-ebook/dp/B08Q5YT2XB/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=all+worlds+wayfarer+through&qid=1616552581&sr=8-1

     

     Fantasy!:  https://press.up.edu.ph/store/books/view_item/693

   Let us continue supporting our Filipino authors, dear parents, teachers and librarians! 

   This list of resources, projects and advocacy, and stories by Mr. Joel Donato Jacob is worth 

    your time.