PORT LIGHT: A Hay(na)ku Collection by William Allegrezza

ISBN No. is 978-0-9826493-6-7
Release Date: Fall 2014
Price: $14
Currently Available for $10.50 from Lulu.com at http://www.lulu.com/shop/william-allegrezza/port-light-a-haynaku-collection/paperback/product-21781993.html
Also available direct from the publisher (MeritagePress@aol.com) and soon from Amazon.com

About the Book:

Port Light: A Hay(na)ku Collection brings together hay(na)kus that have been written over a number of years.  The pieces vary greatly in terms of content from the personal lyric to poems that push at language’s communicative limits.  The occasions of the poems are also diverse.  “Through Having Been” was written as a reaction to storm devastation in Haiti, but many of the poems are daily poems responding to family or friends.  William Allegrezza has written in the hay(na)ku format for almost ten years, but Port Light is his first book to collect and attempt to show a similarity between the pieces. 

Bio:

William Allegrezza edits Moria Books and Moss Trill and teaches at Indiana University Northwest. He has previously published many poetry books, including still. walk, In the Weaver’s Valley, Ladders in July, Fragile Replacements, Collective Instant, Aquinas and the Mississippi (with Garin Cycholl), Covering Over, and Densities, Apparitions; three anthologies, The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century, The Alteration of Silence: Recent Chilean Poetry, and La Alteración del Silencio: Poesía Norteamericana Reciente; seven chapbooks, including Sonoluminescence (co-written with Simone Muench) and Filament Sense; and many poetry reviews, articles, and poems. He founded and curated series A, a reading series in Chicago, from 2006-2010. In addition, he occasionally posts his thoughts at P-Ramblings.

BEAUTIFUL EYES by Gayle Romasanta and Ramon Abad

Book Information:

UPDATE: The print version is now out of print.  You can still order BEAUTIFUL EYES as an E-book by clicking on link below.



BEAUTIFUL EYES

A bilingual children’s book by Gayle Romasanta, Ramon Abad and translators Carmen and Pat Romasanta, in both printed chapbook and e-book formats

Release Date: 2012

Print chapbook: $12.00 from Meritage Press

E-book Retail Price: $9.99 from Meritage Press’ Lulu account at http://www.lulu.com/shop/gayle-romasanta-and-ramon-abad/beautiful-eyes/ebook/product-20064455.html

Chapbook ISBN: 978-0-9826493-3-6
E-book ISBN: 978-0-9826493-4-3

Meritage Press is delighted to announce its latest release, the bilingual beginning reader children's book Beautiful Eyes with text by Gayle Romasanta, Tagalog translations by Carmen and Pat Romasanta, and illustrations by Ramon Abad.

Meritage Press is proud to support this project, a needed addition to bilingual children’s literature involving Filipino culture.


ORDERING INFO
Available for purchase either as a saddle-stitched paperback on quality paper or as an eBook through Lulu.com
     To order a hard copy for $12.00 plus s & h and tax, email the publisher directly at MeritagePress@aol.com
     To order an eBook for $9.99 retail, click this link to go to Meritage Press' Lulu site:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/gayle-romasanta-and-ramon-abad/beautiful-eyes/ebook/product-20064455.html


ABOUT THE eBOOK
The eBook can be read on iPhone, iPad, Kindle and other tablets that can read the PDF format. Kindle users may need to download the eBook to their computer then email the file to their Kindle. See Kindle instructions on transferring files to Kindle.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Beautiful Eyes is based on the timeless motor skills and memory game taught to Filipino babies. An adult says to the baby, “Beautiful Eyes!” Based on memory, a baby will open and close her eyes, batting them for all to see! Beautiful Eyes also emphasizes the beauty that is the Filipino self. It aims to nurture this sense of self early on in the baby years for little ones to take into adulthood—and for adults to remember this sense of self as they read to their children.


YOUTUBE INTERVIEW
Interview of Gayle Romasanta and Ramon Abad available at GMA's Pusong Pinoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzQs4MGlS3g&feature=youtu.be



ABOUT THE AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR

Gayle Romasanta was born in Manila, Philippines and moved to the United States when she was 1 ½ years old. When she was five she wrote a short story about the little people who lived underground. After this story, she knew she wanted to be a writer. Along the way she learned to play the violin, joined a funny theater group, went to art school, and had two babies. She continues to write and publish her creative writing.

Ramon Abad was born in Iligan City, Mindanao, Philippines and moved to the United States when he was almost 2 years old. When he was four he would draw on everything: on walls, in books, and on recycled paper from his dad’s work. Now as a grown-up he draws on a computer, but he still also draws on recycled paper.

For more information, please email the publisher at MeritagePress@aol.com   *****   Beautiful Eyes has become one of Meritage Press' most popular titles.  For example, here are the Cabinet members of Cal State Long Beach's Pilipino American Coalition playing with the book!    

  More information about the book also is available at its Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beautiful-Eyes-Childrens-TagalogEnglish-Book/386521651391320?ref=ts