52nd Silliman National Writers Workshop Opens May 6
The 52nd Silliman University National Writers Workshop (SUNWW) starts on May 6 at the Rose Lamb Sobrepeña Writers Village in Camp Look-out, Valencia.
Its first of three weeks features poetry readings, lectures and fora by guest writers Dean Francis Alfar and Tim Tomlinson, and a book launch for César Ruìz Aquino’s new poetry collection Caesuras: 155 New Poems.
Alfar, author of Salamanca, will talk about his novel and his writing process in “Magic & Heart” on May 8, 6PM at the Cyber Lecture Hall of the Instructional Media and Technology Center. In the same venue on May 9 at 10AM, Tomlinson will give a lecture on “Idiom Wind: Bob Dylan and American Literary Expression”.
Two poetry readings are also scheduled for the first week: Malinis, Please, a music and slam poetry campaign for clean elections on May 7, and MoonWhisperer, a reading of the works of local poet César Ruìz Aquino, on May 10. (The event will also serve as a book launch for Aquino’s latest poetry collection.)
Aside from Aquino and Alfar, the panel of writers/critics for this year includes Director-in-Residence Susan S. Lara and guest panelists DM Reyes, John Jack Wigley, Jose Y. Dalisay Jr., Ricardo de Ungria, Jose Victor Torres, Marjorie Evasco, Alfred Yuson, Gémino H. Abad, and Grace Monte de Ramos. They will be joined by Hong Kong-based Scottish poet David McKirdy, and Tomlinson, who is co-founder of the New York Writers Workshop.
The workshop, which traditionally lasts for three weeks, is the oldest creative writing workshop of its kind in Asia. It was founded in 1962 by S.E.A. Write Awardee Edilberto K. Tiempo and National Artist for Literature Edith L. Tiempo. It recently received the Tanging Parangal in the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
This year, the workshop is co-sponsored by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Embassy of the United States of America in Manila, and the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia.
For more information about forthcoming events during the workshop, please email Workshop Coordinator Ian Casocot at [email protected], or call the Department of English and Literature at (035) 422-6002 loc. 520.
