Jerry Gracio's Waray Translation of The Little Prince Is Coming Soon
On top of Filipino, Bikol, and Chavacano translations of the well-loved book.
(SPOT.ph) Translated into over 500 languages and dialects, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince (1943) has been read and reread by many generations worldwide. It has even been translated into Filipino (Ang Munting Prinsipe) by essayist and poet Lilia F. Antonio, into Bikol (An Sadit na Prinsipe) by Wilmer Joseph Tria, and Chavacano (El Diutay Principe) by Jerome Herrera. In addition to these three local languages, a Waray translation (An Guti Nga Prinsipe) by screenwriter and poet Jerry Gracio is also in the works.
Also read: 10 Beautiful Filipino Translations of Classic Books
Waray Translation of The Little Prince
Gracio, in a post on December 9, revealed that the project actually started in 2019, "hoping that [he] could finish this in a month or two." But given all his other commitments, finishing and editing the manuscript took some time.
The Waraynon writer is also behind the screenplays of Huwag Kang Lalabas (2021), A Soldier's Heart (2020), Mga Batang Poz (2019), The Greatest Love (2016-2017), and more. Gracio wrote the book of essays Bagay Tayo (Visprint, 2018); and poetry collections: Hindi Bagay (2018, Visprint), Aves (2009, UP Press), and Apokripos (2006, UP Press). He is the recipient of two National Book Awards, the 2008 Gawad Likhaan: The University of the Philippines Centennial Prize for Literature, and the 2015 Southeast Asia (SEAWrite) Award. In the 2022 national elections, Gracio ran on a second-seat nomination for the Kapamilya ng Manggagawang Pilipino labor party-list group.
"Mahirap na masarap ang translation work. Ang sarap sa pakiramdam pag natapos," Gracio added in his post.
Poet, fictionist, translator, and filmmaker Kristian Sendon Cordero of Savage Mind Bookshop is the publisher of An Guti Nga Prinsipe.
Here are the first two pages of The Little Prince's Waray translation, An Guti Nga Prinsipe:
The price and availability of An Guti Nga Prinsipe are yet to be revealed.
For updates, follow Jerry Gracio's official Facebook page.
Ang Munting Prinsipe (Filipino translation) is available for P450 through Southern Voices Printing Press's Facebook page, An Sadit na Prinsipe (Bikol translation) is available for P350 through Savage Mind's Shopee page, and El Diutay Principe (Chavacano translation) is available online for P699 through its Facebook page.