‘All My Lonely Islands’ wins best first-book prize

All My Lonely Islands, VJ Campilan’s debut novel about a young woman’s coming of age in a foreign country, won the 17th Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book award recently, more than two years after its manuscript clinched the Palanca Grand Prize for the Novel in English.

In a ceremony held at the University Hotel of the University of the Philippines (UP) in Diliman, Quezon City, on December 1, All My Lonely Islands, which was published by Anvil Publishing Inc., bested three other finalists for the prize.