Hagbayon

2008 starts rather fast for this blogger. First, my poem ‘Pagsilung’ appears in the December 30 2007-January 5, 2008 issue of Bikol Reporter. Its Tagalog/Filipino version ‘Panonood’ had an earlier peek at daylight in the pages of Philippine Panorama in November 2006. Also, another poem of mine in English, one I call ‘In the Green of Marahan’ gets printed in the January 2008 issue of Homelife magazine. It’s such a bonus because in the same issue, poetry editor Dr. Leoncio P. Deriada discusses the results of the 2007 poetry competition.

Iriga City
once again proves to be the undisputed home of Bikolnon contemporary
writers. Deriada writes: ‘Among the cities, Iriga and Quezon were
topnotchers with four poems each.’

Now Quezon City is home to UP-Diliman and Ateneo de Manila.
It is a place teeming with writers. Now Iriga City is in the Bicol
region’s Rinconada area and one writer even said that Rinconada means
‘sa tabi-tabi’. Oh my! We are not living up to our name.

Deriada also reports on the contenders for the Filipino category. Noted names include Ariel S. Tabag, Alex C. de los Santos, Isidoro M. Cruz, Carlo A. Arejola, Genaro Gojo Cruz, German V. Gervacio and Genevieve L. Asenjo.

Right now, I am also
giving a lecture-workshop series to 16 young writers all from a nearby
exclusive school. It’s theory and practice, lectures then poetry
clinic. Of course, I don’t claim to know everything so it is also a way
for me to learn new things with them. The teacher-student relationship
has always been a dialectics.

By the way, this blog would like to congratulate Mr. Marcel L. Milliam a First Place Co-winner in the 2007 Meritage Holiday Poetry Contest as adjudged by Eric Gamalinda. Marcel was my co-fellow during the 12^th Iligan National Writers Workshop.
Sharp and outspoken, our sessions were always lively because of him. He
would always visit our room and bug us to come out and have some beer.
And I am sure he will treat us some more when we both get to visit
Manila. Congrats again, Marcel!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Man Asian Prize Exec Director to Meet with Local Writers Jan. 24

Peter Gordon,
Executive Director of the Man Asian Literary Prize, will be in Manila
on Thursday, January 24, to promote the prize among Filipino writers
and to speak on “International Opportunities for Filipino Writers.” The
UP Institute of Creative Writing is hosting his talk, which will be
held that day at 2:30 pm at the AVR Room, 2nd floor, Rizal Hall
(Faculty Center), UP Diliman.

The Man
Asian—informally known as the “Asian Booker”—was established in 2006
and made its first award in 2007 for the best unpublished novel in
English or English translation by an Asian. Filipino fictionist and UP
professor Jose Dalisay Jr.’s novel Soledad’s Sister made the
shortlist of the inaugural prize, which drew 243 entries from all over
Asia. The deadline for the 2008 Man Asian is March 31.

Gordon will speak
about the prize and on literary publishing in Asia in general. The
UPICW is inviting all interested writers, translators, publishers,
teachers, and students to attend the lecture-discussion, which will
also feature Dr. Dalisay and fellow novelist and columnist Alfred
“Krip” Yuson.

Peter Gordon is also
a founder and former Director of the Man Hong Kong International
Literary Festival (held each March in Hong Kong), founder and editor of
the Asian Review of Books, and publisher at Chameleon Press. He writes a weekly op-ed column in the Hong Kong daily The Standard and is chairman of the Russian Interest Group at the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.

(From Vim Nadera)

2007 Meritage Holiday Poetry Contest

Meritage Press is delighted to announce the results of the 2007
Meritage Press Holiday Poetry Contest, judged by Eric Gamalinda. The
results include this contest’s second time for a tie for “First Place”,
and also the first repeater for “First Place”:

First Place, Co-Winner: “First Winter Passing” by Naya S. Valdellon
First Place, Co-Winner: “O.N.S.” by Marcel L. Milliam
Honorable Mention: “AN EXPLANATION” by R. Torres Pandan

Naya S. Valdellon is this contest’s first poet to receive “First
Place” twice, the prior time occurring in 2002 when she tied with
Michella Rivera-Gravage in the contest judged by Oliver de la Paz. The
2007 results also feature our first non-English language poet winner.
Unfortunately, Eric Gamalinda felt he was only able to assess the
Tagalog entries, and so entries in other Filipino languages were not
included in the judging.

Judge Eric Gamalinda says about the winning entries:

“First Winter Passing” is a lovely poem about how language
connects and disconnects, and how it is nearly impossible for many of
us to bridge this solitude except perhaps through poetry and its
spectral silences. “O.N.S.” is deceptively old-fashioned like a
kundiman, but fused with a naughty, graphic eroticism and a verbal
precision that no translation can do justice-by lines 7-9, I was
captivated by its masterful lyricism. “An Explanation” is a
quiet, elegant little poem that feels like an iceberg: beautiful,
mysterious, larger than it seems. I apologize to those who sent poems
in other Filipino languages that I couldn’t read; I had to exclude them
from the competition, and thus only judged the Tagalog-language poems.

Here are some information about the winning poets:

Naya S. Valdellon is currently finishing her M.A. in English major in Creative Writing at the University  of Toronto. Her chapbook of poems, The Reluctant Firewalker,
was published by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts as
part of its UBOD New Authors Series in 2005. Her poetry has received
the Hart House Poetry Prize, the Maningning Miclat Award, and the Don
Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature.

Marcel L. Milliam is Ilonggo by birth but Capiznon by
association. He is the founding Chairman of “Yanggaw”, The Capiz
Writer’s Circle, and a member of the “Dagyang Pulong” Iloilo Writers
Group. He works for GMA TV6 in Iloilo
as a talent under the ETV Department. He writes poetry mainly in
Hiligaynon, but produces pieces in English and Filipino as well. After
receiving fellowships from the 1st Fray Luis De Leon Creative Writing
Desk of the University of San Agustin, Iloilo, “2nd Panagsugat” Writers
workshop of UP Vis-Min, 12th Iligan National Writers Workshop of the
MSU-IIT, and the 7th Iyas National Writers Workshop for his Hiligaynon
poems, he has now “crossed-over” into fiction. He has won twice the
NCLA-VI “Paktakontxt” of the NCLA-VI, consecutive wins in the UPV SWF
Bigkas Binalaybay sponsored by the NCCA from 2003-2007, both in the
Pagbigkas at Pagsulat Categories. His works have been published in four
issues of SanAg, the official literary Journal of the Fray Luis
De Leon Creative Writing Desk of the USA-Iloilo as well as in the 33rd
ANI of the CCP and numerous other local and national publications. At
present he is a 3rd Year student in the Bachelor of Laws Program (Llb.)
of the University of Iloilo College of Law and is actively involved in
the works of the Alternative Law Groups Inc. (ALG) and was a paralegal
intern of the Children’s Legal Bureau (CLB), Cebu.  When he miraculously has free time, he is also involved with the Iloilo theater scene as a stage actor.

R. Torres Pandan has been a law school dean for ten years and a partner in the biggest law firm in Bacolod City, Philippines
for 16 years. He has won the Palanca Awards for poetry and his first
book of poetry was short-listed for the 2005 National Book Awards. He
is also the Research Director of the Philippine Supreme Court’s JURIS project on mediation.

The winning poems can be seen at the Meritage Press “Babaylan Speaks” link at
http://meritagepres s.com /babaylan/

Be ONE of the 15 FELLOWS with multi-awarded writers!

IYAS Writing Worshop

• Aplicants should submit original work: either 6 poems, 2 short
  stories, or 2 one- act plays using pseudonym, in five (5)
  computer-encoded hard copies of entries, font size 12, bound or
  fastened, in separated folders with a diskette (MSWord).

• These are to be accompanied by a sealed size 10 business envelope
  with the author’s real name and pseudonym, a 2×2 ID photo, and a short
  resume, which must be mailed on or before March 14, 2008.

• Entries in Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Tagalog or Filipino may be submitted. Fellowships are awarded by genre and by language.

• Grant will cover board and lodging and a partial transportation subsidy.

PANELISTS

Dr. Cirilo F. Bautista

Ms. Genevieve Asenjo

Dr. Marjorie Evasco

Prof. Danny Reyes

Dr. Elsie Coscolluela

Dr. Antonio Tan

Wokshop is on April 20-26, 2008 at the Balay Kalinungan Complex, University of St. La Salle , Bacolod City .

Sponsored by: University of St. La Salle, NCCA, Benvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center , De La Salle University, and Negrence Studies Development  Center

SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION TO:

Dr. Gloria Fuentes
Asst. Vice President for Academic Affairs Office
University of St. La Salle
La Salle Avenue , Bacolod City