The UP Asian Center and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will be hosting a Book Launch and Author’s Talk on the Two Volumes from The Negros Trilogy by Dr. Aurelio S. Agcaoili on 10 July 2026, 1:30 PM, PHT, at the Japan Hall, UP Asian Center. The event is free and open to the public. Online registration is encouraged due to limited slots.
ABOUT THE LECTURE
The UP Asian Center will host the launch of two books by Dr. Aurelio S. Agcaoili, Chair of the Department of Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and former faculty member of the University of the Philippines Diliman. The books form part of his Negros Trilogy, a literary and historical body of work that revisits the Negros Massacre and its enduring social, political, and human dimensions. The event aims to provide a venue for scholarly dialogue on literature, history, memory, and human rights through a discussion of Dr. Agcaoili's recent publications. It also highlights the Asian Center's commitment to promoting interdisciplinary conversations on issues affecting the Philippines and the broader Asian region.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
AURELIO SOLVER AGCAOILI, Ph.D.
Chairperson, Department of Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Aurelio Solver Agcaoili chairs the Department of Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. A Fulbright Scholar, he writes in three languages across several literary forms. Formerly of UP Diliman and its Center for Creative Writing, he has spent a lifetime at the intersection of language, witness, and the obligations of exile.
ABOUT THE REACTORS
LARRY AMBION
Assistant Professor, San Beda College
Larry Ambion is an Assistant Professor at San Beda College. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Ateneo de Manila University.
JUNLEY LORENZANA LAZAGA
Department of Language, Literature and the Arts
University of the Philippines Baguio
Junley Lorenzana Lazaga holds the distinction of being the first in the University of the Philippines Baguio to be conferred the title of UP Artist. He currently serves as an associate professor in the Department of Language, Literature, and the Arts, where he has served for over fifteen years in various academic and administrative leadership roles, including directing public affairs during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He writes in Ilokano, Filipino, and English, and also translates between these languages. He is the recipient of a UP Baguio Golden Jubilee Award (2021), One UP Faculty Grant Award (2016-2018, 2019-2021), and One UP Professorial Chair Award (2022-2024).
MARK LOUIE TABUNAN
Assistant Professor, Department of Languages and Humanities
University of Northern Philippines, Vigan City
Mark Louie Tabunan is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Languages and Humanities, University of Northern Philippines, Vigan City, where he teaches travel writing and photography, structures of English, language policy, English and American literature, and literary theory. He finished his MA Language and Literature at the University of the Philippines Baguio through a scholarship grant from the Commission on Higher Education of his home country. His future research projects include interrogations of other Vigan City public spaces, the gastronomic culture of Vigan, and the politics of space in Ilokano fiction, both local and diasporic.