Finally. You can find the photos of our April 12 arrival, lunch at the Bencab Museum, and welcome dinner/orientation on this page: http://thecorsarius.multiply.com/photos/album/108.
Vlad Gonzales, Fellow for Essay in Filipino discussing his poetics.
Felisa H. Batacan, Fellow for Fiction in English discussing her poetics.
The UPNWW’s buena mano: Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles, Fellow for Poetry in Filipino discussing his poetics.
The 48th UP National Writers Workshop is officially underway here at Camp John Hay, Baguio City. Here are some scenes from the first day:
More photos will be made available tomorrow; wi-fi is a bit spotty here at the moment.
Upon the suggestion of the Workshop Director National Artist for Literature Rio Alma, leaves of the chola plant are used as the main design material for the logo of the UP National Writers Workshop this year. Chola leaves are used by the Igorots to adorn their head gears. The design pays tribute to Baguio City for hosting the workshop for many years now. The leaves, superimposed on one another, is metaphor to the convergence of writers in pursuit of excellence in writing. The bottle of ink is character of the desire of the workshop fellows and panelists to further enrich Philippine Literature.
The University of the Philippines Institute of Creative Writing (UP ICW) announces the fellows to the 48th UP National Writers Workshop to be held from April 12 to 19 in Camp John Hay, Baguio City. The fellows and associates of the UP ICW selected twelve writers in mid-career to participate in the annual workshop. This year’s workshop director is National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario.
This year’s fellows for English are Angelo Suarez and Carlomar Daoana for Poetry, Felisa H. Batacan and Francis Dean Alfar for fiction, and Criselda Yabes and Carljoe Javier for creative nonfiction.
Fellows for Filipino are Mikael Co and Ayer Arguelles for tula, Jing Panganiban and Vlad Gonzales for sanaysay, and Norman Wilwayco and Alvin Yapan for kuwento.
The workshop panelists are all advisers, fellows, and associates of the ICW. Aside from National Artist Almario, the panelists are National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera, ICW director Jose Dalisay, Jr., Gemino Abad, Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, Neil Garcia, Charlson Ong, Conchitina Cruz, Jun Cruz Reyes, Victor Carmelo Nadera, Rolando Tolentino, Mario Miclat, and Romulo Baquiran, Jr.
Unlike most national writing workshops, the UP National Writers Workshop is only for advanced writers. The UP ICW is the only institution that holds a workshop of this kind in the country. The current workshop format was borne out of the need to address the dearth of venues for writers in mid-career to exchange ideas on their craft and their current literary projects.
Prior to the new format, the UP ICW has held the annual UP National Writers Workshop for the country’s most promising beginning writers since the 1960s. Through the years other writing centers of other universities have instituted their own workshops for beginning writers, thus freeing the UP ICW to address other concerns.
To qualify for the workshop, writers must satisfy the following requirements. (1) must be writers in English or Filipino; (2) must have attended at least one creative writing workshop (national/regional, including the UP National Writers’ Workshops), or earned a degree in Creative Writing/Malikhaing Pagsulat, or won at least one national/international literary award; (3) must have published at least three poems or two short stories or two pieces of creative nonfiction (e.g., essays, memoirs, profiles) in reputable collections or anthologies, journals, magazines (including campus publications), or refereed Internet web magazines, or have had a play staged.
The UP ICW is setting up a blog hub to keep the public abreast of the developments in the workshop. The hub will bring together blogs of the panelists, fellows, and staff. It will also contain more information on the workshop participants. The blog hub, which will soon be accessible, is accessible at http://upwritersworkshop09.tk.
Welcome to the official blog of the 48th UP National Writers Workshop 2009, which will be held from April 12 to 19 in Camp John Hay, Baguio City.
Here you will read the latest workshop news and announcements; experiences from the Fellows, Panelists, and Staffers; and photos of the workshop as it proceeds.
You can contact our webmaster, Phillip Kimpo Jr. at pykimpo [at] gmail [dot] com.
