FRANKFURT, GERMANY – In a quiet yet momentous launch at the Philippine Stage of the Frankfurt Book Fair, celebrated Filipino writer Jessica Zafra saw her debut novel The Age of Umbrage take on a new voice — this time, in Sinhalese. The translation marks the first Filipino novel to be published in Sri Lanka, a cultural bridge built through the collaboration between Jessica and Goodreads Lanka, led by publisher Pradeep Gamega.
For Gamega, this project was more than a translation — it was an act of literary diplomacy. “There are almost no Filipino books available in Sinhalese,” he said during his remarks. “We believe translation binds cultures, shares emotions, and allows us to understand each other’s social problems. When I read Jessica’s work, I saw that it reflects struggles we know too well in Sri Lanka.”
The newly released Sinhalese edition joins the English original and a German version published by Transit Verlag, expanding Jessica’s readership beyond linguistic borders. The launch featured readings in English and Sinhalese, where the rhythmic cadences of each language revealed new textures in Jessica’s prose — her trademark mix of wit, melancholy, and social critique resonating across cultures.
Jessica, known for her sharp, sardonic voice in the Twisted essay collections of the 1990s, reflected on hearing her work in another tongue. “It’s fascinating,” she said. “The Sinhalese title Through the Shadows feels closer to my intent than even the German title, Ein ziemlich böses Mädchen — which translates to A Pretty Bad Girl. ‘Shadows’ evokes not just anger and resentment, but the moral and emotional chiaroscuro I wanted the book to inhabit.”
Gamega explained that his team at Goodreads Lanka chose the title based on three factors: emotional connection, cultural resonance, and literary strength. “Our readers want different kinds of books now,” he said. “Jessica’s novel felt revolutionary — it tackles issues our own literature hasn’t touched yet, but it feels close to us because we share the same Asian context.”
Indeed, “The Age of Umbrage” — a coming-of-age story set during the last days of the Marcos regime — offers a nuanced portrait of identity, class, and politics in 1980s Manila. Jessica navigates a world in flux, caught between private rebellion and public unrest. For German audiences, it has served as an unfiltered introduction to the Philippines’ eccentricities and contradictions; for Sinhalese readers, it promises a new window into the shared complexities of postcolonial Asia.
“The German readers tend to read very closely,” Jessica said, “because they don’t know who I am and they don’t know much about the Philippines. They often ask, ‘So this is about the end of the Marcos regime… and who is your president now?’ When I say, ‘Marcos Jr.,’ they just look at me in disbelief.”
This sense of disbelief — and the absurd, cyclical nature of history — is part of what gives The Age of Umbrage its edge. Jessica, who is known for her work as a columnist, spoke candidly about that transition to being a novelist. “I realized I was old and didn’t have a novel yet,” she joked. “Writing columns is like sprinting — you need to write something out of nothing in 15 minutes. A novel, though, needs momentum. It’s a marathon. So I had to stop one to do the other.”
Asked what she hopes Sri Lankan readers will take away from the book, Jessica offered a characteristically sharp answer: “Maybe they’ll realize that there are over 110 million Filipinos, and we’re not all nurses, singers, or entertainers. You can’t make assumptions. For instance — you can’t make me sing.”
Gamega, meanwhile, hopes the translation opens the door for more Asian voices to be read across borders. “We’ve been translating mostly Western works,” he said. “But it’s time we share our own stories — how Asian people handle their social problems, how we express emotion. Books like this prove that our experiences are interconnected.”
The Frankfurt Book Fair’s Philippine pavilion has increasingly become a stage for regional literary solidarity. This year’s event underscored not only the vitality of Filipino writing abroad, but also how translation serves as both bridge and mirror — revealing the common shadows that shape Asian storytelling.
adobo magazine is with the National Book Development Board of the Philippines at the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair.
