SU to co-present the first Dumaguete Literary Festival
Silliman University (SU), together with the SU English and Literature Department, Edilberto and Edith Tiempo Creative Writing Center, and the SU Culture and Arts Council, is set to partner with other industries for the inaugural Dumaguete Literary Festival (Duma LitFest) 2024, at 58 EJ Blanco Drive on April 26-28, 2024.
Spearheaded by the Buglas Writers Guild and Libraria Books, the launch of the three-day festival is also co-partnered by the Department of Trade and Industry [DTI] of Negros Oriental, Arts + Design Collective Dumaguete, Dumaguete City Tourism Office, National Museum of the Philippines Dumaguete, and Back Pack Solutions. This is also in celebration of National Literature Month this April.
Multi-awarded writer Asst. Prof. Ian Fermin Rosales Casocot, who serves as co-director for the festival and a faculty member of the English and Literature Department, believes that Dumaguete is ripe for this prodigious undertaking.
“Dumaguete City has always been considered by many writers as Philippine literature’s ‘hometown.’ It hosts, after all, the oldest—and continuing—creative writing workshop in Asia, which has molded many generations of Filipino writers. It was home to the late National Artist for Literature Edith Lopez Tiempo and the late National Artist for Cinema Eddie Romero,” Casocot said.
“As a setting, it has inspired many literary works, from novels to poetry, from essays to plays. And it continues to be home to many notable authors and artists. A literary festival celebrating this literary heritage, and embracing the realities of the modern world and the place of the creative in it, is a fitting development for this future City of Literature,” he added.
The event will feature many local writers and literature lovers, but will also bring in writers of national renown, including Dean Francis Alfar, Marjorie Evasco, Nikki Alfar, Sarge Lacuesta, Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta, Claire Betita de Guzman, Mina Esguerra, Jay Ignacio, Ren Ren Galeno, Johanna Michelle Lim, and others.
Meanwhile, many of the panels feature Silliman writers and literature faculty, with talks ranging from examining the place of Philippine literature in the school curriculum to examining the writing in the various genres. The event will also feature a zine fest and a literary/artistic bazaar.
Casocot hopes to develop the event to be international in scope in the future. For now, the organizers, including Libraria Books owners and co-directors Ernest and Gayle Acar, have dubbed the event to be “Celebrating Literature, Dumaguete-Style,” which aims to showcase the riches as well as the traditions of Dumagueteños.
58 EJ Blanco Drive, the venue for the event, is home to the Arts + Design Collective Dumaguete, a creative hub for many local artists and designers as well as writers and entrepreneurs.
The first Duma LitFest is also in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Charter of Dumaguete.
