Literary festival

Ongoing at the Ayala Museum and Filipinas Heritage Library is the Third Philippine International Literary Festival. The event, focused on the theme “Read Lit District,” is organized by the National Book Development Board (NBDB), led by its indefatigable Executive Director Andrea Pasion-Flores.

Yesterday, after NBDB Chair Flor Marie “Neni” Sta. Romana-Cruz welcomed the participants, Gemino Abad, Ricardo de Ungria, and STAR columnist Alfred Yuson read poetry. Abad then delivered a keynote speech on “The Landscape of Philippine Poetry in English and Its Future,” and Nigerian novelist-poet Chris Abani spoke on “Literature Created from Human Sorrow.”

In parallel sessions afterwards, several authors shared insights on the Filipino novel, book design, using literature to teach history, books for young readers, new developments in poetry, and the importance of writing a good first page. Among the participants were Eros Atalia, Michael Coroza, Ruel de Vera, STAR columnist Jose Dalisay Jr., Francisco Doplon, J. Neil Garcia, New York editor Juliet Grames, Bambi Harper, Carl Joe Javier, May Jurilla, Mookie Katigbak, Robert Magnuson, Hong Kong poet David McKirdy, Charlson Ong, Carla Pacis, Allan Popa, Guillermo Ramos, Vincenz Serrano, Australian novelist Ken Spillman, and New York poet-fictionist Tim Tomlinson.

Today, at 9 a.m., Bienvenido Lumbera gives a keynote speech on the state of Philippine literature, after which I talk about “Langue Pricks Public Cant: Fact and Friction.”

Afterwards, there are parallel sessions on breaking writing taboos, translation techniques, the novel “Laro sa Baga” by Edgardo M. Reyes, screenwriting, writing in the different regions of the country, translating foreign books into Filipino, writing for young adults, humor writing, and transformative writing.

Among those on hand to give their insights today, aside from those already mentioned, are Efren Abueg, Abdon Balde, Hermie Beltran, Ian Casocot, Stanley Chi, Sylvia Claudio, Mikael Co, Kristian Cordero, Jhoanna Lynn Cruz, Evie Felix, Steven Fernandez, Ralph Semino Galan, Jerry Gracio, Cyan Abad-Jugo, Marne Kilates, Jun Lana, RJ Ledesma, Ferdie Lopez, Rosario Cruz-Lucero, Chris Martinez, Segundo Matias Jr., Elyrah Salanga, Beverly Wico Sy, Auraeus Solito, Rolando Tolentino, Rody Vera, and Santiago Villafania.

Tomorrow morning, Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo will talk about “The Memoir and Filipino Women Writers” and Marjorie Evasco will talk about the poetic life.

There will then be parallel sessions on issues in editing, selecting children’s books for libraries, addressing issues about sexuality through literature, confronting personal and political demons, LGBT, turning on the artistic muse, sex in biographies, performing literature, creative nonfiction, and using visual arts to appreciate poetry.

More writers will join those already named, such as Manix Abrera, Romulo Baquiran Jr., Ronald Baytan, Merlinda Bobis, Jose Wendell Capili, Luna Sicat-Cleto, Ellinor Ferriol, Nerisa del Carmen Guevara, Jose Lacaba, Sarge Lacuesta, Susan Lara, Jenny Logico, Vim Nadera, Maritoni Ortigas, Jun Cruz Reyes, and Marites Vitug.

November, called “Philippine Book Development Month” (and internationally called the “National Novel Writing Month” or “NaNoWriMo”), is an extremely busy month for the NBDB.

Immediately after the Literary Festival, together with the Manila Critics Circle, it will hand out the National Book Awards on Saturday at the National Museum.

On Nov. 27 and 28, at the Megatrade Hall in SM Megamall, together with the Department of Education (DepEd), the NBDB will hold a Book Fair of Highly Recommended Supplementary Materials.

DepEd has long wanted to have a list of outstanding books that Filipino schoolchildren should be encouraged to read. The perennial problem has been that these books are hard to find; they have certainly been impossible to find in only one place or bookstore. That problem is solved with this bookfair. Publishers will exhibit the recommended books for teachers, administrators, librarians, and other educators who can then browse and order the books.

How were the books selected? Through a stringent process that involved several stakeholders, including the Philippine Educational Publishers Association, the Book Development Association of the Philippines, and the Metrobank Network of Outstanding Teachers and Educators, as well as award-giving bodies such as the Manila Critics Circle, the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards in Literature, the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation, and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Numerous individuals and groups have agreed on the titles, thus removing the idiosyncracies of personal taste and changing the existing culture of corruption in the purchase of supplementary materials.

Some people think that pushing book reading is a rearguard action against digital progress. These people should read what Quote Investigator has discovered about dire predictions about reading.

In The New York Dramatic Mirror on July 9, 1913, Thomas Edison was quoted as saying: “Books will soon be obsolete in the public schools. Scholars will be instructed through the eye. It is possible to teach every branch of human knowledge with the motion picture.”

In The Los Angeles Times on Feb. 5, 2012, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was quoted as saying: “Every schoolchild should have a laptop, because in the near future, textbooks will be a thing of the past.”

Edison was clearly wrong, and perhaps even Duncan will be (we will know in the near future, that is, by 2020), but at least in our country, if we were to judge from the flurry of activities this month, books are here to stay.