Miclat’s Controversial Book, “Secrets of the 18 Mansions,” Now on Sale at Erehwon

Erehwon Artworld Corporation, in collaboration with the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation inc.,   collaborated to publish the 15th Anniversary deluxe edition of Mario I. Miclat’s novel, “Secrets of the Eighteen Mansions.”  The book launch was held on September 29, 2025, at the GT-Toyota Asian Center Auditorium, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City. The event was the centerpiece of “Alaala Alang-alang sa Sining” (A Tribute to the Arts), a tribute to the legacies of Mario Miclat and his daughter, Maningning Miclat.

The book is an autobiographical novel, now designed in coffee table form.  The author is Mario I. Miclat, a multi-awarded poet, novelist, essayist, translator and academic. He served as dean of the University of the Philippines Asian Center and retired as UP full professor and Associate of Likhaan UP Institute of Creative Writing.  In 1971, a group of young Filipino activists fled to China, with Mario and his wife Alma among them. They stayed in exile for 15 years, cared for by the Chinese government, working at Radio Peking.  It was during this exile that Mario wrote “Secrets of the Eighteen Mansions,” a novel about which National Artist F. Sionil Jose had written, “… adroitly weaves Chinese history and events into the plot of the novel, giving it historical context and contemporaneity – a master stroke worthy of great writer.”  It is an extraordinary story of underground Filipino expatriates in China during the turbulent years of the Cultural Revolution

In 2009, the book was longlisted for The Man Asian Literary Prize, an annual literary award between given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English.

It includes an introduction written by National Artist Virgilio Almario, who describes it as “one of the most creative histories of the rise and fall of the Maoist movement in the Philippines.”

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