IN ACCORDANCE with Proclamation No. 968, signed in 2015, the National Literature Month (NLM) is celebrated every April, under the auspices of the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA), Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) and the National Book Development Board-Philippines. This year’s theme is Buklugan Panitikan, a phrase adapted from buklog, the Subanen ritual for community-bonding and thanksgiving.
In Cebu, under the initiative of the USC Cebuano Studies Center and the National Committee on Literary Arts Chair, Dr. Hope Sabanpan-Yu, the literary community will celebrate a three-day festival called Joy to the Word, where readings, workshops, exhibits, presentations and discussions will be held in the Wrocklage Yard of the University of San Carlos-Downtown Campus on 4-6 April 2019.
Readers will have a chance to meet long-admired authors as well as discover upcoming writers in a segment called Up Close and Personal: Conversations with Cebuano Writers. They will witness Cebuano plays being read, new works being staged, and poetry performed by the poets themselves. Attendees will get to listen to talks on Storybook Illustration by Josua Cabrera, Blogging by Erik Requina and Hazel Cesa, Vlogging and Film Making by Bradley Tenchavez, Zine Production by Erik Tuban and Zine Design by Jay Nathan Jore.
A book fair and photo exhibit will feature writers’ organizations in Cebu such as the Women in Literary Arts-Cebu (WILA-Cebu), Mga Anak sa Dagang (MAD), Tinta, The Stray Poets Collective, and Bathalan-ong Halad sa Dagang-Sugbo (Bathalad-Sugbo), which is the recipient of the Gawad Pedro Bucaneg 2019 conferred by the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas. The festival will also feature Book Swap Cebu, Inc. and the translators’ group InOtherWords Incorporated (IOW Inc.)
Cebu reads Lazaro Francisco
Still in line with the NLM celebration is an event dubbed as Cebu reads Lazaro Francisco, to be held in the Fr. Albert Van Gansewinkel Hall in the University of San Carlos-Downtown Campus on April 11, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Under the sponsorship of the NCCA, KWF, and the USC Cebuano Studies Center, in cooperation with the USC DCLL, this activity is a celebration of the works of National Artist Lazaro Francisco, who had written 12 novels in Filipino. Among his well-loved works are the Maganda pa ang Daigdig (The world is still beautiful, 1955), Daluyong (The Surge, 1962-1963), Sugat sa Alaala (Memory’s Wound, 1950-1951), Ilaw sa Hilaga (Northern Light, 1946-1947) and many others.
The activity aims to introduce and showcase Francisco’s genius to the contemporary generation of Filipinos, to encourage the youth to return and read the early meaningful Filipino writers in the different languages, and to foster understanding of the Filipino sense of identity that is based or centered on being Tagalog or being Manileño.
The experience, depth, and importance of a Tagalog as Filipino will be tackled in the keynote of Dr. Soledad Reyes, Professor Emeritus of Ateneo De Manila University and primary critic of Lazaro Francisco’s works as well as in the critical discussions with invited scholars/critics who will discuss the oeuvre of Francisco.
To present their papers are Haidee Emmie Palapar, Joanalyn Gabales, Francis Luis Torres, Niño Augustine Loyola, and Clyde Inso Chan. A dramatic reading of excerpts from Francisco’s work will be presented. The event will also be graced by National Artist Resil B. Mojares, Professor Emeritus of the University of San Carlos.