Dumaguete here we come!
April 23, 2007 | 12:00am
The 46th National Writers Workshop will be held in Dumaguete City from May 7 to 25, with 16 young writers granted fellowships this year.
The following writing fellows for the Summer of 2007 should get in touch with Dr. Edith L. Tiempo, National Artist for Literature, c/o CAP Bldg., Rizal Blvd., Dumaguete City, or her secretary Jo Amaro, to confirm their attendance ASAP:
Poetry: Kristian Abe L. Dalao, Krisette Sia-Valderia and Jennelyn Tabora of De La Salle University, and Sharleen P. Banzon, Cecille La Verne de la Cruz and Pancho Villanueva of UP Diliman;
Fiction: Catherine Alpay and Sasha Martinez of Ateneo de Manila University, Janina Marie O. Rivera of DLSU, and Michelle Eva A. de Guzman and Robert Jed Rio Malayang of Silliman University; and
Creative Non-fiction: Mia Tijam of UP Diliman, Martin Villanueva of AdMU, and Jan Paulo A. Bastareche, Primy Joy Cane and Justine Megan Yu of Silliman U.
All fellows are expected to arrive in Dumaguete City in time for the opening session at 9 a.m. of Monday, May 7, at the Faurot House or what we used to call End House, where the legendary art and music professor Dr. Albert Faurot had his famous studio and residence.
The distinctive-looking structure, painted in pastel blues and greens and shaped like a grand piano, with what looked like keyboards accenting its windows as flower boxes, stands at the end of a tree-lined road inside the Silliman University campus.
Numerous workshop sessions were held here, inside or at the garden shaded by old leafy acacias. I’m sure so many of our writers, young as they may have been at the time, still remember those precious moments when a cluster of pink flowers of the Samanea saman, otherwise known as acacia or monkeypod tree, drifted down to land on a page of the workshop manuscript that was being discussed.
Poetic as the morning or afternoon would have been, in the first place, the young writer could well have interpreted the laws of gravity and wind current as a sign from the heavens, what with pink petals suddenly covering lines of verse or fiction, or maybe even the notes that had been scribbled on the margins, something about what "Mom" Edith had said about "objective correlatives" or "pathetic fallacy" or "extensions" and "fat and flabby lines."
I know that as a long-toothed panelist I’ve kept such petals, and they’re still in my fat and flabby wallet, however sere and brittle they’ve turned into. In fact not a few sales ladies still accept these as legal tender, especially when I cite their vintage, such as that Maytime in the mid-’90s when a strong batch included Mailin Paterno (now Locsin), Dean Francis Alfar, and Angelo "Sarge" Lacuesta.
These three have since distinguished themselves as superb short story writers. In Dean’s case, why, he even recently produced a prizewinning novel, Salamanca, besides plays and anthologies of speculative fiction and comic books.
The sessions we had then were conducted mostly at that garden ministered to by Dr. Faurot, a concert pianist and educator who also laid claim to have been the first person in this country to bring in a build-it-yourself harpsichord. And built it all by himself, he did, too. Applying narrative extension to that recollection, the second such harpsichord was also put together by dear Albert, for his missionary counterpart in the North  Sagada in the Cordilleras, in particular. And that was the great historian William Henry Scott.
Privilege comes in many ways. I like to think that one manifestation of the happenstance variety was a particular blessing received in 1970, when I listened one rainy afternoon in June to "Scotty" playing Bach on his harpsichord in his Sagada cottage, and that same year, nearing Christmas, visiting Dumaguete off-season, getting to watch and listen to Albert deftly essaying the keys and foot pumps of his own prototype harpsichord at his End House.
See what the memory of drifting acacia flowers brings on?
At any rate, so now it’s called Faurot House by Silliman U. authorities. It’s been sometime since we made our way to that garden by the cul-de-sac, and reprised memories of Dr. Faurot tinkling on the ivories.
For over a decade now, the workshop that was started by Dr. Edilberto K. Tiempo and Dr. Edith L. Tiempo in 1962, and which used to be entirely sponsored by Silliman University, found another home at CAP College, which graciously lent its Dragon Room on the second floor of the CAP Bldg. by the seaside esplanade, facing Cebu and Siquijor across Tañon Strait.
That’s where we’ve gotten used to meeting for a couple of hours in the morning and another session in the afternoon, except on special occasions when the literary commentary and evaluation would be conducted on a beach or at the breezy terrace at Mom Edith’s hilltop residence in Montemar just off the coastline at Sibulan.
This summer, however, thanks to SU’s new president, Dr. Ben Malayang, the longest-running and most storied creative writing workshop in Asia marks a return to a partnership with Silliman. The first two weeks’ sessions, according to Atty. Ernesto Superal Yee, head of DULA or Dumaguete Literary Arts Service Group Inc., will be held at Faurot House, with the third and last week reverting to CAP Bldg.
The main sponsor is the National Commission for Culture and the Arts or NCCA. Other regular sponsors for fellowships include Senator Edgardo Angara, Senator Mar Roxas, former NCCA chair Dr. Jaime Laya, and writer-editor Erlinda Panlilio.
Panelists for the first week who will assist Mom Edith are FEU’s Dean of the Institute of Arts & Sciences and premier poet-writer-painter Dr. Jaime An Lim, Creative Writing Foundation Inc. president Susan Lara, Ateneo literature professor and poet D.M. Reyes, and resident guru Cesar Ruiz Aquino.
For the second week, when us out-of-towners will be fending off the temptation to turn into flying voters, this chronicler will enjoy the company of bosom buddies and disco partners Jimmy Abad and Marj Evasco.
And for the final week, the 16 fellows, as well as many returnees or balik-fellows smitten with nostalgia, will earn their spurs while their works are discussed by UST Creative Writing and Studies Center director Dr. Ophelia A. Dimalanta, Dr. Anthony Tan of the English department of IIT-MSU, and resident writers Bobby Villasis and Ernie Yee. Of course Mom Edith will direct the sessions on a daily basis.
And so, congratulations to yet another batch of young writers who are about to join the ledger of all the aspiring poets, fictionists, essayists and dramatists who have experienced the blessed season of Maytime in Dumaguete.
You’ll enjoy the camaraderie, Jo’s Chicken Inato, the streetside chicken tinuyok, ice cream and the Internet at Scooby’s, puso and tempura from the sundown-onwards stalls on the boulevard, budbod kabog from Valencia, seafood at Malatapay’s Wednesday seaside market as you pine for a crossing towards Apo Island, kinilaw and sinuglao and lechon for yet another picnic lunch at Forest Camp, pool parties at South Sea Resort, beach outings at Bahura Resort & Spa in Dauin, billiards and disco at Why Not?, videoke sessions at Ang Boulevard, reggae nights at Hayahay, the beer and rum and vodka and perchance just a wee dram of my special whisky, and all the camaraderie of a fun-filled introduction to the literary world.
Oh, and occasionally some time should be left over for steeping yourselves in the craft of writing. The initiation will undoubtedly leave you scarred for life. But what lovely welts will be raised by those three weeks of May in Dumaguete  miracles of falling petals and all.
The following writing fellows for the Summer of 2007 should get in touch with Dr. Edith L. Tiempo, National Artist for Literature, c/o CAP Bldg., Rizal Blvd., Dumaguete City, or her secretary Jo Amaro, to confirm their attendance ASAP:
Poetry: Kristian Abe L. Dalao, Krisette Sia-Valderia and Jennelyn Tabora of De La Salle University, and Sharleen P. Banzon, Cecille La Verne de la Cruz and Pancho Villanueva of UP Diliman;
Fiction: Catherine Alpay and Sasha Martinez of Ateneo de Manila University, Janina Marie O. Rivera of DLSU, and Michelle Eva A. de Guzman and Robert Jed Rio Malayang of Silliman University; and
Creative Non-fiction: Mia Tijam of UP Diliman, Martin Villanueva of AdMU, and Jan Paulo A. Bastareche, Primy Joy Cane and Justine Megan Yu of Silliman U.
All fellows are expected to arrive in Dumaguete City in time for the opening session at 9 a.m. of Monday, May 7, at the Faurot House or what we used to call End House, where the legendary art and music professor Dr. Albert Faurot had his famous studio and residence.
The distinctive-looking structure, painted in pastel blues and greens and shaped like a grand piano, with what looked like keyboards accenting its windows as flower boxes, stands at the end of a tree-lined road inside the Silliman University campus.
Numerous workshop sessions were held here, inside or at the garden shaded by old leafy acacias. I’m sure so many of our writers, young as they may have been at the time, still remember those precious moments when a cluster of pink flowers of the Samanea saman, otherwise known as acacia or monkeypod tree, drifted down to land on a page of the workshop manuscript that was being discussed.
Poetic as the morning or afternoon would have been, in the first place, the young writer could well have interpreted the laws of gravity and wind current as a sign from the heavens, what with pink petals suddenly covering lines of verse or fiction, or maybe even the notes that had been scribbled on the margins, something about what "Mom" Edith had said about "objective correlatives" or "pathetic fallacy" or "extensions" and "fat and flabby lines."
I know that as a long-toothed panelist I’ve kept such petals, and they’re still in my fat and flabby wallet, however sere and brittle they’ve turned into. In fact not a few sales ladies still accept these as legal tender, especially when I cite their vintage, such as that Maytime in the mid-’90s when a strong batch included Mailin Paterno (now Locsin), Dean Francis Alfar, and Angelo "Sarge" Lacuesta.
These three have since distinguished themselves as superb short story writers. In Dean’s case, why, he even recently produced a prizewinning novel, Salamanca, besides plays and anthologies of speculative fiction and comic books.
The sessions we had then were conducted mostly at that garden ministered to by Dr. Faurot, a concert pianist and educator who also laid claim to have been the first person in this country to bring in a build-it-yourself harpsichord. And built it all by himself, he did, too. Applying narrative extension to that recollection, the second such harpsichord was also put together by dear Albert, for his missionary counterpart in the North  Sagada in the Cordilleras, in particular. And that was the great historian William Henry Scott.
Privilege comes in many ways. I like to think that one manifestation of the happenstance variety was a particular blessing received in 1970, when I listened one rainy afternoon in June to "Scotty" playing Bach on his harpsichord in his Sagada cottage, and that same year, nearing Christmas, visiting Dumaguete off-season, getting to watch and listen to Albert deftly essaying the keys and foot pumps of his own prototype harpsichord at his End House.
See what the memory of drifting acacia flowers brings on?
At any rate, so now it’s called Faurot House by Silliman U. authorities. It’s been sometime since we made our way to that garden by the cul-de-sac, and reprised memories of Dr. Faurot tinkling on the ivories.
For over a decade now, the workshop that was started by Dr. Edilberto K. Tiempo and Dr. Edith L. Tiempo in 1962, and which used to be entirely sponsored by Silliman University, found another home at CAP College, which graciously lent its Dragon Room on the second floor of the CAP Bldg. by the seaside esplanade, facing Cebu and Siquijor across Tañon Strait.
That’s where we’ve gotten used to meeting for a couple of hours in the morning and another session in the afternoon, except on special occasions when the literary commentary and evaluation would be conducted on a beach or at the breezy terrace at Mom Edith’s hilltop residence in Montemar just off the coastline at Sibulan.
This summer, however, thanks to SU’s new president, Dr. Ben Malayang, the longest-running and most storied creative writing workshop in Asia marks a return to a partnership with Silliman. The first two weeks’ sessions, according to Atty. Ernesto Superal Yee, head of DULA or Dumaguete Literary Arts Service Group Inc., will be held at Faurot House, with the third and last week reverting to CAP Bldg.
The main sponsor is the National Commission for Culture and the Arts or NCCA. Other regular sponsors for fellowships include Senator Edgardo Angara, Senator Mar Roxas, former NCCA chair Dr. Jaime Laya, and writer-editor Erlinda Panlilio.
Panelists for the first week who will assist Mom Edith are FEU’s Dean of the Institute of Arts & Sciences and premier poet-writer-painter Dr. Jaime An Lim, Creative Writing Foundation Inc. president Susan Lara, Ateneo literature professor and poet D.M. Reyes, and resident guru Cesar Ruiz Aquino.
For the second week, when us out-of-towners will be fending off the temptation to turn into flying voters, this chronicler will enjoy the company of bosom buddies and disco partners Jimmy Abad and Marj Evasco.
And for the final week, the 16 fellows, as well as many returnees or balik-fellows smitten with nostalgia, will earn their spurs while their works are discussed by UST Creative Writing and Studies Center director Dr. Ophelia A. Dimalanta, Dr. Anthony Tan of the English department of IIT-MSU, and resident writers Bobby Villasis and Ernie Yee. Of course Mom Edith will direct the sessions on a daily basis.
And so, congratulations to yet another batch of young writers who are about to join the ledger of all the aspiring poets, fictionists, essayists and dramatists who have experienced the blessed season of Maytime in Dumaguete.
You’ll enjoy the camaraderie, Jo’s Chicken Inato, the streetside chicken tinuyok, ice cream and the Internet at Scooby’s, puso and tempura from the sundown-onwards stalls on the boulevard, budbod kabog from Valencia, seafood at Malatapay’s Wednesday seaside market as you pine for a crossing towards Apo Island, kinilaw and sinuglao and lechon for yet another picnic lunch at Forest Camp, pool parties at South Sea Resort, beach outings at Bahura Resort & Spa in Dauin, billiards and disco at Why Not?, videoke sessions at Ang Boulevard, reggae nights at Hayahay, the beer and rum and vodka and perchance just a wee dram of my special whisky, and all the camaraderie of a fun-filled introduction to the literary world.
Oh, and occasionally some time should be left over for steeping yourselves in the craft of writing. The initiation will undoubtedly leave you scarred for life. But what lovely welts will be raised by those three weeks of May in Dumaguete  miracles of falling petals and all.
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