Filipino Literature?

Has anyone here read any books from the philippines or about the philippines? i'm curious what kind of lit they have considering their culture has been influenced by spain...

The Philippines' greatest author, and national hero, Jose Rizal, was indeed influenced by Spain. To the extent that the Spanish shot him...

Check out his Noli Me Tangere.

"america is in the heart" by carlos bulosan
"when the elephants dance" by tess uriza holthe
"talking to the moon" by noel alumit
"dogeaters" by jessica hagedorn

Just making touchstone links.

America Is in the Heart - Carlos Bulosan
When the Elephants Dance - Tess Uriza Holthe
Talking to the Moon - Noel Alumit
Dogeaters -
Noli Me Tangere - Jose Rizal

Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo which was its sequel, were both written in Spanish (the language of the colonizers and used by the intellectuals and the elite during his time). The books, powerful novels depicting the oppression and injustices the Filipinos had suffered for 3 centuries under Spanish hands, as well as the corruption of the church, were banned by the Spanish authorities. Also, because of these books, he was excommunicated by the Catholic church.

The most famous contemporary writer (who wrote in English) is F. Sionil Jose. His most famous work is the Rosales Saga Novels, a five -novel series that spans 3 centuries of Philippine history.

You might want to check out the Filipino group here. It's PinoyThing! (with the exclamation point). Looks rather dormant of late but you can get a lot of names of contemporary writers.

Question, of course, is how many can you find outside of the Philippines? Some of those folks will know because they don't all live in the Philippines.

Besides Jessica Hagedorn, I've seen Chester Ong reviewed in the U.S. press, probably on the NYT Book Review.