The UP National Writers Workshop
The Workshop
[With text from the UP ICW website and Panitikan.com.ph.]
Writers from all over the country compete for 12 fellowships at the UP National Writers Workshop in Baguio every summer. The workshop on the craft of writing is focused on individual manuscripts by the fellows in poetry, fiction and drama in English and Filipino. The workshop is Likhaan’s most important outreach program and perhaps the most prestigious in our country today, it entails a considerable budgetary allocation from the UP Diliman Chancellor and a grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
This year’s Workshop will take place from April 12 to 19 in Camp John Hay, Baguio City and will be directed by Virgilio S. Almario, National Artist for Literature.
History
The UP National Writers Workshop was first held at the COMELEC Compound and the UP College Baguio from 12 to 24 July 1965. It was a pilot project proposed by the late UP Pres. Carlos P. Romulo, and administered by the Department of English whose Chairman was Dr. Dionisio A. Rola.
From the UP ICW records, which was received from Rene O. Villanueva and Herminio S. Beltran Jr., sometime during the first Writers’ Workshop sponsored by the then CWC in 1980, the following were the Fellows: Jorge Arago, Leopoldo Cacnio, José Nadal Carreon, Julian Dacanay Jr. (+), Romeo Dizon, Rita Gadi, Erwin Gomez, Edilberto Guerrero, José Lacaba, Marra PL. Lanot, Clemencia Nativida, Ong Nai-bon, Emmanuel Osorio, Lourdes Pangilinan, John Panoy, Armando Ravanzo, Georgina Reyes, Virgilio Reyes Jr., Rosemarie Romero, Maximiano Tuason, Wilfredo Pascua Sanchez, Alma de Jesus Tayo & Manuel Yu.*
The records, with minimal errors, also included the Fellows, the Visiting Writers and the venues of the six other Workshops under the aegis of the English Department: 1967, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1976 & 1978. The turnover of records was not only a happy coincidence, but also a stroke of luck. Under the directorship of the late Francisco Arcellana, the CWC tried to reconstruct the other pertinent files of the Workshop, but, due to the passage of time, the Department could not furnish any.
Lasting 13 days, the Workshop consisted of lectures, discussions, criticisms of manuscripts, and individual conferences between the Fellows and the Teaching Staff. The succeeding Workshops practically followed the same format.
George Bluestone of Washington University and author of The Private World of Cully Powers served as the Writer-in-Residence. Mrs. Natalie Bluestone also delivered a lecture on Jean-Paul Sartre.
Prof. Francisco Arcellana was the Workshop Director. The Teaching Staff was composed of Arcellana, Petronilo Bn. Daroy, Romy V. Diaz, NVM Gonzalez & Alejandrino G. Hufana, Department of English Ricaredo D. Demetillo & Virginia R. Moreno, Department of Humanities; Wilfrido Ma. O Guerrero, Department of Speech & Drama; & Dominador I. Ilio, College of Engineering. Prof. Emerenciana Yuvienco-Arcellana was the official chaperone. The Workshop Fellows were provided board, lodging & transportation from Manila and back.
The Workshop ended on 24 July with the Closing Ceremonies at the UP College in Baguio Auditorium. Poet and translator John Ciardi, Poetry Editor of the Saturday Review, delivered the closing lecture. Pres. Carlos P. Romulo formally closed the Workshop with a speech entitled “The Writer’s Freedom and Integrity.”
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*There is a slight problem regarding the number and composition of the Fellows. The Philippine Collegian press release on the Workshop – datelined 28 July 1965, p. 1 – listed only 19 Fellows. No mention of Messrs. Carreon, Gomez, Guerrero & Sanchez. According to Marra Lanot, Carreon & Sanchez were later accredited as Fellows for their attendance in the Workshop. The UP ICW will not revise the line-up handed down by Messrs. Villanueva & Beltran, until further notice and incontrovertible evidence is found.
