Our work at the University of the Philippines Institute of Creative Writing is fairly routine — we run the annual writers’ workshop in Baguio, publish the Likhaan Journal, and sponsor lectures on and readings of contemporary Philippine literature — but now and then something special comes our way that just calls out for some equally special attention.
One such addition to the roster of our services and facilities is the newly completed Gonzalo Gonzalez Reading Room in the library of the New CAL Building. The GGRR used to be a small room in UP Diliman’s Faculty Center, but a generous donation from our benefactor, Atty. Gizela M. Gonzalez-Montinola, enabled us to upgrade the reading room and its offerings toward achieving its goal of being the country’s best repository of contemporary Philippine and Southeast Asian literature.
The room is named after Ging’s father, the late Gonzalo Gonzalez, a former member of the UP board of regents. A Harvard-trained lawyer, Ging herself writes exquisite prose, and has had a deep and abiding interest in writing and literature, explaining her commitment to its promotion through the GGRR and another project I’ll bring up shortly, the Madrigal-Gonzalez Best First Book Award.
We expect the GGRR to become a major resource for anyone interested in the best of new writing from the Philippines and around the region. It’s a not a lending library, but it’s open to all UP students, faculty, and serious researchers. We’ve begun the collection by soliciting donations from the present and past fellows and associates of the UPICW — our own books as well as contributions from our personal libraries. I’d like to see it expand to contain, in the very least, a complete collection of works by all our National Artists in Literature.
Let me take this occasion to invite all Filipino writers in all languages — especially former fellows of the UP Writers’ Workshop — to donate copies of their books as well to the GGRR. That way you can always be sure to find them in a safe place (long after you’ve lost or lent out your own last copy), and in pretty good company, too. Just bring or send them over to the UPICW, and we’ll take care of putting them on the GGRR shelves.
I’m also happy to say that we’ll soon be announcing the winner of this year’s Madrigal Gonzalez Award for the best first book by a Filipino author over the past two years. We alternate this between books in English and Filipino, thus the two-year span. This year it’s English’s turn, and the finalists are The El Bimbo Variations by Adam David, The Proxy Eros by Mookie Katigbak, Girl Trouble by Alan Navarra, and Antisipasyon by Victor Dennis T. Nierva.
The El Bimbo Variations is a collection of 99 retellings of the first line from the lyrics of the song Ang Huling El Bimbo by the Eraserheads. David studied in the University of the Philippines, lives in Cubao, Quezon City and has been a bookmaker by trade since 1999. The El Bimbo Variations was published by The Youth & Beauty Brigade in 2008.
The Proxy Eros is a collection of poems on love, desire, and the act of making. Katigbak resides in Quezon City and is currently taking her PhD at the University of the Philippines. She holds degrees from the Ateneo de Manila University and New School University New York. The Proxy Eros was published by Anvil Publishing Inc. in 2008.
Antisipasyon asin iba pang rawitdawit sa Bikol asin Ingles is a collection of poems in Bicol with selected translations into English by Marne Kilates and H. Francisco Peñones Jr. Nierva resides in Camarines Sur and was born in Naga City. He is finishing his MA at the University of the Philippines and teaches at Ateneo de Naga. Antisipasyon was published by Goldprint Publishing House in 2007.
Girl Trouble is a story told in various forms, from short stories and koans to print and billboard layouts and advertising storyboards. Navarra is a graduate of the University of St. La Salle, Bacolod City. Girl Trouble was published by Visual Print Enterprises in 2007.
The P50,000 prize, sponsored by the Madrigal-Gonzalez family, will be given out on the afternoon of Writers’ Night on December 11. The awarding will be accompanied by a forum on the shortlisted works and on the contemporary literary scene featuring this year’s judges, namely UP ICW Fellow and UP Professor J. Neil Garcia, De La Salle University Professor David Bayot, and award-winning poet Angelo Suarez.
Established in 2001, the MGA has been given out to an impressive roster of writers: Angelo Lacuesta for Life after X and Other Stories, Elen Sicat for Paghuhunos, Ma. Felisa Batacan for Smaller and Smaller Circles, Luna Sicat-Cleto for Makinilyang Altar, Vicente Groyon for The Sky over Dimas, English, Kristian Cordero for Mga Tulang Tulala, Rica Bolipata Santos for Love, Desire, Children, etc., and Zosimo Quibilan, Jr. for Pagluwas.
Three years ago, when I first wrote about the MGA, I noted that “A first book is the writer’s announcement of his or her presence, and a great one often presages even more wonderful things. T.S. Eliot’s first book was Prufrock and Other Observations (1917); Ian Fleming’s was Casino Royale (1953). In the early ’70s, an alcoholic teaching high-school English started his first novel, only to toss it into the garbage; his wife retrieved the manuscript and urged him to get back to work. The book became Carrie, and the author was Stephen King. And it was only in 1997, can you believe it, when an unknown writer named J. K. Rowling got her first book — Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone — published by Bloomsbury, which turned out an edition of a measly 300 copies (any one of which is now worth at least 10,000 pounds to collectors — that’s a million pesos to you and me).”
Also to be launched that afternoon will be the third annual issue of Likhaan: The Journal of Contemporary Philippine Literature, featuring the best original, previously unpublished work by Filipino authors. This issue — edited by Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo — will have stories, poems, and nonfiction by Mikael De Lara Co, Kristian Sendon Cordero, Carlomar A. Daoana, Karl R. De Mesa, Zosimo Quibilan, Rica B. Santos, Joel M. Toledo, Edgardo B. Maranan, Anna Maria L. Harper, Dustin Edward D. Celestino, Franklin Cimatu, Ma. Josephine Barrios, Vladimeir Gonzales, Jose Claudio Guerrero, Sharon Ann Briones Pangilinan, Pedro Cruz Reyes, Rommel B. Rodriguez, Ricardo M. de Ungria, Eugene Y. Evasco, and Bienvenido Lumbera.
Writers’ Night and these related activities will be held this year at Balay Kalinaw in UP Diliman, so plan on being there from about 4 pm onwards on Dec. 11 to enjoy the full program. See you there.
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E-mail me at penmanila@yahoo.com, and visit my blog at www.penmanila.net.