MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Center of International PEN (Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) will conduct a series of teaching literature workshops in Manila and in selected regions in the Philippines this year. Called “The Literature Workshop: Teaching Philippine Literature in High School and College,” this project is geared toward retooling and upgrading the skills of literature teachers in both secondary and tertiary levels.
In the 2010 Cebu Congress, Philippine PEN passed the following resolution: “We resolve to … work more closely with the education sector, its leaders, planners and administrators, its teachers and students, and the education publishing industry, to improve literature education in the country. The Philippine PEN 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 lecture-workshop on teaching Philippine poetry and fiction will be held on March 25, Friday, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, at Far Eastern University’s University Conference Center in Morayta, Manila. PEN authors and university professors Gemino Abad and Danilo Francisco Reyes will be the facilitators.
The Literature Workshop is co-hosted by Far Eastern University, and supported by PEN International in UK, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
For further 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.