Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 6

Journal of a Lockdown, 10 June 2020

Zine #2 featuring Genius and Garbage, a new story by Jessica Zafra, designed by Yodel Pe. Limited edition, so get it now. We still have copies of Zine #1: The Adventuress. The plan is to produce six zines in 2020. Collect the whole set! Each zine costs P250. We accept payment by BDO deposit and […]

Journal of a Lockdown, 8 June 2020

Some of the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum. Greece wants them returned. What is dust? Where does it come from? I clean the house every other day (used to clean daily, but it was taking up my mornings), and the dust is inexhaustible and self-replenishing. The other day I looked up dust online and […]

Journal of a Lockdown, 5 June 2020

So this is Trump’s vision of America. Policemen killing black people because they are black. Protests against murderous racism brutally dispersed. A peaceful protest action in front of a church violently broken up because Trump wanted to be photographed in front of that church, toting a bible. Trump egging on the violence, promising shooting, vicious […]

Twisted the book is coming back in October!

Out of print for years, Twisted will be published this year in a new edition! Stay tuned for updates. It was not the best of times, it was not the worst of times, but it was the era of my youth and everything seemed golden and alive with possibility. Well not exactly, because we can […]

Journal of a Lockdown, 31 May 2020: 10 Things I Learned About Myself in Quarantine

Journal of a Lockdown, 30 May 2020: Before You Go Out There

Tahani Baakdhah @thepurplelilac On Monday, June 1, many of the quarantine restrictions will be relaxed. Buses and trains will be allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity. Taxis, tricycles, Grab Cars, but not jeeps will start running again. People above the age of 21 and under the age of 60 can leave the house. Non-essential […]

Journal of a Lockdown, 26 May 2020

Noshed on Diary of a Foreigner in Paris by Curzio Malaparte, one of the great bullshitters of the 20th century. Hell of a writer, but you don’t have to believe a word he says. The Italian author was a fascist who was later imprisoned by Mussolini. He says it was because he made fun of […]

Journal of a Lockdown, 25 May 2020

It turns out that I can live with less: no dining out, no shopping, no hanging out at the mall. A movie a day, three books a week, good writing materials, and cats, to paraphrase Truffaut. And food, of course (I read somewhere that Truffaut did not eat much), and cat supplies. Cleaning products. Skin […]

Journal of a Lockdown, 24 May 2020

Otsu, whom I hadn’t seen since our supermarket run on the day lockdown was announced, dropped off ice cream, cheese, and hopia. Along with my friend’s Garfield-level lasagna and another friend’s mercy mission delivery of good wine, I am set for the week. These days Otsu can only read medical journals, and she reports that […]

“Not long ago, in a city nearby…” Listen to excerpts from The Collected Stories of Jessica Zafra.

Portents I wrote this in 1991, an apocalyptic time—the first Iraq War, the Baguio earthquake, the eruption of Mt Pinatubo, daily 12-hour power outages. Little did I know. The story won first prize at the Palanca Awards and got me a publishing deal with Anvil, which was then managed by Karina Bolasco. Karina is still […]