Replacing one vice with another.
A novel (pun intended) idea, but won’t the font be too small for people to read? But hey, any stylish gimmick to spread the love of reading is right up my alley.
TANKBOOKS has launched a series of books that were designed to mimic cigarette packs, in time for the July 1 smoking ban in all closed public spaces in the UK. The mini-tomes are packaged in authentic cigarette flip-tops, with the name of the novel emblazoned where the cigarette brand name should be, complete with foil insert and cellophane wrap. The titles up for grabs are Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”; Ernest Hemingway’s “The Undefeated” and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”; Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” and “In the Penal Colony”; Rudyard Kipling’s “The Man who would be King”, “The Phantom Rickshaw” and “Black Jack”; Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and Leo Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilych” and “Father Sergius”.
Various announcements
The poetry group LIRA ( Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo) will be presenting a multi-media exhibit in celebration of Women’s Month. The exhibit, called LILA: Handog Sa Buwan Ng Kababaihan, will feature film showings, live performances, and lectures by Rebecca Anonuevo and Kora Dandan on March 30 at 1:30 PM. The exhibit is open to the public from March 24 to March 30 at the Ortigas Foundation Library, 2F Ortigas Building, Ortigas Ave., Ortigas Center, Pasig City. For more information, please email LIRA at info@lira.tk or contact 09182442553.
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The Ateneo University Press is updating their Language textbook series with the release of the revised edition of “Experiencing English.” This edition incorporates changes in the way English is taught in Filipino schools–from emphasizing grammar to building communicative skills.
Mary Anne Agustin of the Press notes that “…While the revised edition remains committed to this goal, some changes have improved the series as a whole:
1. The Note to Parents that explains the unique concept underlying the series includes tips for using the book so that parents and other adults can better help in their children’s learning process;
2. Each lesson, although creatively and nontraditionally presented, has a grammar focus which is clearly stated in the
Table of Contents section of every book;
3. The materials cut across subject matters significant and relevant to the pupils’ daily lives, such as history, current events, ecology, community life, and science. They have benefited from insights and suggestions of teachers, educators, education consultants, and parents who have read and used the first edition;
4. The Teacher’s Manual contains more exercises and drills that will help teachers impart lessons more productively;
5. The cost of the whole set (from Prep to Grade 6) is only 1,245 pesos.”
Ateneo University Press is offering a free training seminar for teachers and English coordinators in order to facilitate a profitable use of the textbook series.
For inquiries, please contact the Press at (632) 426-6001 loc. 4610.
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Adarna House, together with the Raya School, Alitaptap Storytellers Philippines, and the Filipinas Heritage Library, invite readers, young and old, to participate in a series of workshops this summer.
A complete schedule follows the cut.

