The Last Full Moon: Lessons of my Life

by Gilda Cordero-Fernando

In this colorful memoir marking her 75th birth year, storyteller par excellence Gilda Cordero Fernando gathers the stories of her life—written, she says, while she “can still remember.” Then she playfully promises “not to tell all.” Her galactic journey filled with gifts and synchronicities, misadventures and paradoxes, takes us from her ancestral roots in provincial gentry to behind-the-scenes of Manila’s elite literary circles; from political protest to initimations of past lives and communication with the other side; from art-filled family rituals to Gilda’s Living Will.

250 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Gilda Cordero-Fernando was a multiawarded writer, publisher and cultural icon from the Philippines. She was born in Manila, has a B.A. from St. Theresa’s College-Manila, and an M.A. from the Ateneo de Manila University.

She started off as a writer and was awarded the Palanca Award for Literature several times. She also wrote and illustrated children’s books.Her short stories are collected in The Butcher, The Baker and The Candlestick Maker (1962) and A Wilderness of Sweets (1973).

She had a very rich life as a publisher. In 1978 she launched GCF Books, which published landmark books on Philippine cultural history: Streets of Manila (1977), Turn of the Century (1978), Philippine Ancestral Houses (1980), Being Filipino (1981), The History of the Burgis (1987), Folk Architecture (1989), and The Soul Book (1991).

Cordero-Fernando also wore numerous other hats as a visual artist, fashion designer, playwright, art curator, and producer. In February 2000, she produced Luna: An Aswang Romance. In 2001 she produced Pinoy Pop Culture, the book and the show, for Bench.

In 1994, she received a Cultural Center of the Philippines (Gawad CCP) for her lifetime achievements in literature and publishing.

(from wikipedia.org.)

Reviews

[Maria Asena Galang]

The author has always been alert and in touch with her own feelings, to be able to write this way, this book. / Children must not be taught what to feel, rather they must be taught how to express their feelings and recognize the reason for such..