By THEPHILBIZNEWS STAFF

On her 70^th birthday on December 15, Alma Cruz Miclat is launching the deluxe edition of her book, Soul Searchers and Dreamers, Volume II, the first volume of which was released in 2015.

The 152-page, 8.5” x 11” hardbound book in full color has a stunning cover of an oil painting by the author’s departed daughter, artist and poet Maningning Miclat as designed by poet and artist Fidel Rillo.

Miclat’s latest book continues her tribute to artists, writers, and their magnificent works as published from 2016 to 2020 mostly in the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Lifestyle section, and also the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)’s Sanghaya, among others.

Soul searchers featured in this book are National Artists Nick Joaquin and Napoleon Abueva; literary icons Gilda Cordero Fernando and Rogelio Mangahas; art gallery doyenne Norma Liongoren; art luminaries Danny Dalena, Imelda Cajipe Endaya, Julie Lluch, Addie Cukingnan and Romeo Gutierrez; maverick artists Kublai Millan, Danny Rayos del Sol, Dexter Sy, Dansoy Coquilla, Azor Pazcoguin, Nasser Lubay, and physician-artist Orestes P. Monzon; language stalwarts Teresita V. Ramos and Mario Ignacio Miclat; the late academic Ajit Singh Rye; diplomat Nona Zaldivar; entrepreneur Herman T. Gamboa; and man of the cloth Jose Maria de Nazareno.

Soul Searchers and Dreamers, Volume II also has a sneak peek from an autobiographical account of the author’s China journey from 1971 to 1986, as well as musings on COVID-19 written during the lockdown.

As though the featured artists and writers were not enough, the book’s foreword was written by no other than Thelma Sioson San Juan, Inquirer’s Lifestyle editor for 17 years, not to mention her long experience with the Times Journal, Manila Chronicle, and ABS-CBN Publishing. She writes: “They [Alma and Mario Miclat] went to places that were pages from history and from their private lives; the trips were a filling blend of historical knowledge and personal connection.”

San Juan further writes: “Alma’s writings could very well be a journey into the Filipino soul, a journey taken over the Filipino’s turbulent years, the tipping points, the detours and false exits… This book is an echo of all that—a Filipino’s unending journey. Honest books such as this, in these trying times, make the journey a bit bearable, even enlightening.”

Jointly published by the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation, Inc. (MMAFI) and Erehwon Center for the Arts, the book will be launched via Zoom under the auspices of Dr. Resty Monzon, a physician-visual artist and a MMAFI trustee.