61st SU National Writers Workshop opens with 12 fellows

The Silliman University National Writers Workshop (SUNWW), the oldest creative writing workshop in Asia, will begin the two-week, in-depth training of 12 fellows for its 61st year through an opening program at Silliman Hall on June 26, 2023.

The workshop will be held in person after two years of being held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It brings together fellows for an intensive yet enriching and fun-filled series of panel sessions by distinguished literary greats geared towards sharpening their craft.

This year’s fellows are:

POETRY
Vince Raphael Agcaoili, Antipolo City
Michael John Otanes,General Santos City
Bryan Mari Argos, Roxas City

FICTION
Carlo Bautista, Manila City
Al Osiris lngking, Cebu City
Ava Laureen Arnejo, Cebu City

CREATIVE NONFICTION
Jorisse Gumanay, Cebu City
Marielle Fatima Tuazon, Quezon City
Roemina Deocareza Buenauz, Makati City

DRAMA
Eunice Joy Bacalando, Pasay City
Yehudi Santillan Ill, Dumaguete City

SUGILANON
John Danté, Cebu City

This year, workshop sessions will be held at the Anthropology Museum on the second floor of Hibbard Hall.

Dinah Roma, director-in-residence of the 61st SUNWW, said the workshop committee decided not to hold the workshop at the Rose Lamb Sobrepeña Writers Village this year because of possible repairs in the facility.

The Rose Lamb Sobrepeña Writers Village, a facility of the University at Camp Lookout in Valencia, is where the SUNWW is traditionally held.

Roma, a University fellow and Literature and Creative Writing professor at De La Salle University Manila, also served as the director-in-residence for last year’s workshop.

The following writers also joined this year’s workshop as panelists and screeners: César Ruìz Aquino, Timothy R. Montes, Dr. Marjorie Evasco, Alfred A. Yuson, Adrian Crisostomo Ho, Maria Elena L. Paulma, Joel M. Toledo, and Myrna Peña-Reyes.

The fellows and panelists will also be doing a series of events that are open to the public throughout the week: 60th SUNWW Folio Launch, 4:00 p.m. on June 26, 2023 at the Ariniego Art Gallery; the book launch of “Laut and Orphan Price,” 5:00 p.m. on June 29, 2023 at Arte Cafe, Rizal Boulevard; the 61st SUNWW 1st Lecture Series, 9:00 a.m. on June 30, 2023 at the Ariniego Art Gallery; an event on the poetry of César Ruìz Aquino, titled “Ceasura,” 5:00 p.m. on July 5, 2023 at Libraria Books, Piapi, Dumaguete City; and the 61st SUNWW 2nd Lecture Series, 9:00 a.m. on July 7, 2023 at the Ariniego Art Gallery.