Fil-Am writer Oscar Peñaranda to deliver talk at UP

Press Release On September 12 (Wed) at 2:00-5:00pm, Oscar Peñaranda will deliver his talk titled “Stranger on Both Shores” at the FC Conference Hall, UP College of Arts and Letters, UP Diliman, Quezon City. Literature teachers and students are invited to listen to the author as he shares his unique experiences in the United States as citizen and writer. The talk is sponsored by the UP Institute of Creative Writing headed by FILCOLS member Jose Dalisay and the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL) headed by FILCOLS Board member Abdon M. Balde, Jr. UMPIL awarded him last August 25 at the CCP with the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas, an annual literary recognition for accomplished Filipino writers. He deserved the award “for his poetry of a deeply felt humanity describing the historic location and state of the Filipino-American.” Born in 1944 in Barugo, Leyte, Peñaranda immigrated to Canada in 1956. He lived in Vancouver for five years. On his senior year, his family transferred to San Francisco where he went to St. Ignatius High school. He earned his B.A. (in Literature) and M.A. (in Creative Writing) at San San Francisco State University where he became part of the struggle to establish Ethnic Studies in the schools. He taught at San Francisco State for 12 years, Everett Middle School for 10 years, and James Logan High School for 15 years, and again at San Francisco State for two years (2010-2012). He helped found the San Francisco Chapter of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) as its first president. He advocates for the teaching and creation of Filipino Heritage Studies and Filipino (language) in all his educational efforts. His works include short stories, poetry, plays, novels, TV and film scripts. His stories were anthologized in Fiction By Filipinos In America (1993) and Growing Up Filipino: Stories for Young Adults (2004). His poetry collection, Full Deck (Jokers Playing) was published in San Francisco in 2004. He has also written a collection of short stories –Seasons by the Bay.