Philippine PEN Holds Teaching Literature Workshop in Baguio
The Philippine Center of International PEN (Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) continues its series of workshops on teaching literature in selected regions of the Philippines this year.
Called “For Love of the Word: Workshops on Teaching Philippine Literature in High School and College,” the next workshop will be held on August 8 (Monday), from 8:30 to 4:30 pm, at Juan Luna Hall (UP Baguio Auditorium), University of Philippines-Baguio. Eminent writers/scholars and university professors Delfin Tolentino and Jun Cruz Reyes will serve as facilitators.
This workshop is co-hosted by UP-Baguio, and supported by PEN International in UK, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
This project is PEN’s modest way of assisting in the improvement of literature education in the country. In the 2010 Cebu Congress, PEN has resolved to work more closely with the education sector, as it “recognizes that literary taste is shaped in the schools, especially the public school system; it is where generations must be taught to appreciate the outstanding works of our very own writers, works that constitute the soul of our nation.”
The first three workshops were successfully held on March 25 at Far Eastern University-Manila, May 6 at the University of San Agustin-Iloilo, and June 9 at the University of Cebu.
Forthcoming are three more workshops—in Bicol, Pangasinan, and Cagayan de Oro. The Bicol workshop will be held on October 10, in cooperation with Naga College Foundation.
For inquiries, please contact Philippine PEN at Solidaridad Bookstore, 531 Padre Faura St., Ermita, Manila, Philippines. Tel. (632) 5230870; Telefax (632) 5255038; email: philippinepen@yahoo.com; mobile: +639175287491. Please visit the PEN website http://www.philippinepen.ph for updates.
Santiago B. Villafania, Pangasinan poet, is the author of poetry collections Pinabli tan arum ni'ran Anlong (Beloved & Other Poems), Balikas na Caboloan (Voices from Caboloan) published by the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts (NCCA) under its UBOD New Authors Series (2005) and Malagilion: Sonnets tan Villanelles (2007). Villafania is one of the 11 Outstanding Pangasinenses conferred with the 2010 ASNA Award for the Arts and Culture (literature) category during the first-ever Agew na Pangasinan and 430th Foundation Day of Pangasinan on April 2010. Read more »
"The publication of Malagilion: Sonnets tan Villanelles by Santiago B. Villafania should be a source of rejoicing for readers of regional literatures. This second book by Pangasinan's leading poet today is impressive in both form and substance. Villafania has created 300 sonnets and 50 villanelles in his own language that attempt to reflect the primacy of native culture and return the poet to the central stage of social life." – A Boost to Pangasinan Literaturefrom Breaking Signs by Cirilo F. Bautista (Philippine Panorama, 16 Dec. 2007, pp.25-26)
"Sa kanyang pangalawang aklat na Malagilion, nangahas na naman siya (Villafania) na gumimbal sa pamamagitan ng kanyang Sonnets tan Villanelles upang ilibing sa limot ang aking pag-usisa't pag-urirat kung paano na ang panitikang Pangasinan." – Victor Emmanuel Carmelo Nadera, Jr., Tagapangulo, Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas
"Villafania is not only a visionary poet, he is a linguistic philosopher who codifies the origin of language and culture, dissects the myths and the common beliefs of the people against the urban legends, juxtaposes the literary tradition against the modern influences by dialectically infusing them in his poetic revelation of truth." – Poetic Revelation in Language and Culture by Danny C. Sillada (Manila Bulletin, 12 May 2008, pp. F1-F2)
"Sumusunod si Sonny Villafania sa landas na hinawan ng mga manunulat sa Pangasinan na nauna sa kanya. Sa kanyang paglalakbay, hinahawan din niya ang bagong mga landas na maaaring sundin ng susunod na mga manunulat sa wikang Pangasinan. Subalit hindi lamang para sa mga taga-Pangasinan ang kasalukuyang akda. Ito rin ay panawagan sa mga manunulat sa ibang mga wika sa Pilipinas upang patuloy na pagyamanin ang kanilang panitikan at pagsulat. Kung walang mga lokal na panitikan ay hindi magiging posible ang tunay na panitikang pambansa." – Dr. Ricardo Ma. Nolasco, Tagapangulo, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF).
Photos: Book Launching at the Pearl Manila Hotel, 5 Feb. 2008
"Santiago Villafania's Balikas ed Caboloan certainly has reinvigorated the anlong tradition of Pangasinan that for a long period of time suffered silence from the hands of writers more attuned to English writing. Characteristically anacbanua, Villafania's poetry echoes his predecessors and presages a promising era for young writers in Pangasinan." – Dr. Marot Nelmida-Flores
Six of my poems translated into Arabic by Prof. Abdul-Settar Abdul-Latif (English Dept., College of Education, University of Basrah, Iraq) and have been published in TEXT - the Cultural Monthly Journal, Issue No.13
Translations of Swansong of the sea into Italian by Mario Rigli and into Arabic by Nizar Sartawi
Translations of Erolalia in German, Arabic, Italian, Spanish and Bulgarian language. And here is the 1st version of the poem published in The Sunday Times (Manila Times, 11.23.2003).
Sunday, August 21, 2011
