Thursday, November 10 in the Philippines.
Will Cocks, our Assistant Cultural Affairs Officer and control officer for Edward P. Jones, reported in an e-mail message this morning that EPJ arrived safely from the U.S.A. via DL-173 at 10:25 last night. EPJ is now in the Ambassador's Residence on Jacaranda Road, where he will remain as house guest through the end of his Philippine tour.
Another e-mail message from Andrea Pasion-Flores, currently Executive Director of the National Book Development Board, informed us that Junot Diaz, also a Pulitzer Prize winner, has decided to come to the Philippines despite his back problems.
EPJ's day began with an Embassy tour led by Vice-Consul Rick Polney and a review of the program schedule and administrative details in the Nox 1 Cafeteria.
The Embassy team then brought EPJ to Cafe Adriatico on Remedios Circle for lunch with Philippine Star writer Jessica Zafra and writer Tina Cuyugan. How I wish, the entire session had been videoed; EPJ was spouting forth gems worth quoting, by the minute! Having EPJ, Jessica, and Tina all together at the table was also too good to be true!
I had my copy of Lost in the City autographed; Jessica, her copy of The Known World. Tina had one over both of us, though: she brought out an already-autographed, first-edition, copy of The Known World and had EPJ autograph it all over again on the same page. EPJ recalled that he had sent a book of those autographed first-edition issues to Harper Collins "a long time ago."
Our most precious discoveries:
Everything in EPJ's works is completely out of his imagination; nothing is ever based on real characters and events.
EPJ does not like writing in longhand or using a typewriter; he goes directly to the word processor to encode his thoughts.
EPJ struggles through the first 30 pages, after which the rest of his work is smooth sailing through the end.
EPJ can write the LAST chapter of a novel immediately after the FIRST, because everything else is already written inside his mind.
Later in the day EPJ bought a black polo barong at The Landmark in Makati. We brought him back to the Residence afterwards.
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