Kudos to young Ilonggo writers!
Drama in reality TV felt in writers’ workshop
By Ma. Diosa Labiste
Inquirer
Last updated 00:43am (Mla time) 06/24/2006
Published on Page A16 of the June 24, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
IF “Pinoy Big Brother (PBB),” a reality TV show, had its teen edition, so did the annual creative writing workshop at the University of San Agustin’s Fray Luis de Leon Creative Writing Institute in Iloilo City.
Nine fellows, aged 13 to 25, but the majority of them high school students, were grilled by noted writers from Western Visayas, who subjected every poem and short story they submitted to close reading and comments—some gentle, some cruel but always helpful.
As in any writing workshops, egos were crushed and years of bad English writing smashed. It was a process as stressful as joining PBB.
There were no defensive outbursts and tantrums, although one fellow was seen banging his head on the table, luckily on the cushioned edge, as his poem was being butchered. But he said his mother had warned him of a Simon Cowell among the panelists.
Write in own language
“Write in your own language. A language is an utterance of a civilization. Hiligaynon is not inferior to English,” said Palanca Hall of Famer Leoncio Deriada, the lead panelist of the workshop held on May 15-19.
The workshop, now on its fourth year, aims to discover, and hone skills of writers in Western Visayas to write in English, Filipino and regional languages, such as Hiligaynon, Aklanon and Kinaray-a.
The sponsoring agency, named after the Spanish lyric poet and theologian, wants to be a “friendly and fertile breeding ground” of local writers, said its coordinator, John Iremil Teodoro.
For budding writers, joining writing workshops is one way of recognizing their talents.
This year’s fellows were chosen after they have submitted four of their best works, mostly poems, that were printed on handouts without their names to spare them of immediate shame when these dissected for style and grammar flaws.
The fellows: teen edition
The fellows were Hajar Al-Abdullah, Stephanie Keiko Enarbia and Jazelle Nufable, Ateneo de Iloilo; Lawrence Anthony Bernabe, University of the Philippines Visayas; Donna I.M. Fresnido, University of San Agustin High School; Frente Sur Melliza, SPED-Integrated School for Exceptional Children; and Arlene Moscaya, Victor Robinson III and Elsed Togonon, University of San Agustin.
Aside from free attendance to the workshop, the fellows received transportation allowance and free lodging if they are not from Iloilo City. Of the nine, three are college students, five are in high school, and one had just finished Grade 6.
“This batch is the teen edition. Maybe we have already depleted the ranks of adult and older writers in the region,” said Teodoro, also a panelist.
The other panelists were also noted for their works in regional languages of West Visayas, in which many were award-winning and published. They are Genevieve Asenjo, Isidoro Cruz and Alice Tan Gonzales.
As panelists, the four were thoughtful and nurturing even as they keenly pointed out the slips in techniques and narrowness of the writer’s world.
One-line comments
On the other hand, Deriada, while steely and unforgiving, especially in his one-line comments, was well liked by the fellows because of his repertoire of anecdotes, English language booboos and tales of “aswang” and “kapre.”
The last of the five-day workshops was the much-awaited part because medals and books were given away to the best works produced. The poetry contest has categories in English, Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a.
The winning pieces were read because, as Deriada said, the poems have to be liberated from their printed form.
The occasion was also the launch of the books of two Kinaray-a poets, Genevieve Asenjo and Maria Milagros Geremia Lachica.
Asenjo’s book, “Pula ang Kulay ng Text Message,” is a collection of poems in Kinaray-a and Filipino, while Geremia-Lachica’s “Ang Pagsulat… Bayi,” is a book of Kinaray-a poems with English translations.
The two were first winners of Fray Luis de Leon Creative Writing Grants established last year to inspire and encourage production of literary works in Western Visayas. The grant comes with P10,000 and the completed manuscript is published by the university with the label “Libro Agustino.”
Impoverish writers
“We know very well that there is no money in writing. Writers have to work—they teach, they farm, they do PR, they sell things in the market and some even direct beauty contests in order to eat and live decently,” said Teodoro.
He said the grant was a modest amount, but it would be a “force enough to make that writer produce her of his masterpieces…”
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September 03, 2010, 11:29:32 PM
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