Axel Timo Purr talks to writer and lecturer Chuckberry Pascual about his disturbing short story Room 202 from the volume A Country of Corpses, in which Filipino myths and political reality merge inextricably. Pascual tells of the years under Duterte, of corpses in the streets and of a politics that divides even families. As a teacher in the creative writing programme in Filipino, he fights for young writers to tell stories in their own language - and thus continue a literature that has long been marginalized. But this is anything but easy. Nevertheless,

Pascual sees hope - never before have there been so many writing voices and small publishers as there are now.

Language: English

Place/Date: Manila, August 23, 2025

This podcast is part of the report Literary Travel in the Philippines.

Did you enjoy this text? If so, please support our work by making a one-off donation via PayPal, or by taking out a monthly or annual subscription. 
Want to make sure you never miss an article from Literatur.Review again? Sign up for our newsletter here.