Short stories -- Philippine (English), Philippine literature 

Euphemistically known as "The Land of Promise," Mindanao is often treated like somebody’s poor relation. Conveniently ignored, rather than recognized. Or if acknowledged, only with some condescension. All roads still lead to Rome, or in our case to Manila-that haughty imperialist city up north where the corridors of literary power are. Mindanao, to most Filipinos, is still the boondocks, the backwaters of civilization.

Consequently, Mindanao writers often get left out in the literary shuffle, except for a very few like Aida Rivera-Ford, Tita LacambraAyala, and Antonio Enriquez who have become institutions in themselves. Whether we admit it or not, easy access to national publications, book publishers, writers clubs, and that insidious informal network of mutual admirers, fellow writers, literary cronies, critics, book reviewers, and judges of literary contests does exert influence on the fortunes of any writer.

From these sources, we compiled a list of fictionists, poets, and playwrights whom we then invited to be a part of the Mindanao Harvest. We did not specify a recognizable "Mindanao theme" in their contributions. We only asked for works that reflect their characteristic style and thematic concern. Contrary to expectations, the contributions did not pour in, they t-r-i-c-k-l-e-d in with puzzling reluctance. Though in the end we gathered a sizable amount of material, we found out that we could use only so much. Our final choices had to be pared down even further by the editors at New Day. Because of the thickness of the resulting manuscript, it was decided to come out with Mindanao Harvest 1 for fiction and Mindanao Harvest 2 for poetry and drama, instead of just one volume. Despite our efforts to be comprehensive, we cannot pretend to have sought and found all the significant writers of Mindanao. Somewhere in the vast fastnesses of the island, unknown to us and to the world, there are still many bright young talents waiting to be discovered. On them and on the writers included in this anthology rests the future fulfillment of Mindanao’s rich literary promise.
 

Ill. ; 22 cm
Includes bibliographic references