Call for Manuscripts for the 10th Ateneo National Writers’ Workshop (ANWW) Poster

I-click lamang ang poster para sa mas malaking bersiyon nito. / Click the poster for a larger version

Ang Daming Nobela sa Mundo at Hindi Mo Pa Nababasa ang mga Iyon

Updates, updates...

Buong araw ang komite para sa exhibit sa Intramuros. Secret na lang muna kung para saan. Hintayin n'yo na lang, Imaginary Reader, ang buwan ng wika. Basta nakakapagod. At muntik na ring bumigay ang kamera ko. At hindi pa tapos ang trabaho. Hay. Gatalabet.

Nakakailang linggo na rin ang lumipas nang magsimula ang klase. So far so good. Pero parang lagi akong lata at pagod sa dulo ng araw. At tatlong klase lang ito. Mag-exercise kaya ako? Yeah, right.

Nga pala, kung gusto mong makita, Imaginary Reader, ang disenyo ng mga pabalat ng UBOD New Authors Series II, punta ka lang dito.

Nga pala, alam mo bang ang sagot sa bugtong na "batong sakdal ng tigas, sa bulong lang naaagnas" ay "puso ng dalaga"? Medyo sexist, ano? Pero panalo.

Call For Contributions: Kritika Kultura Anthology Of New Philippine Writing

Contributions are now welcome for the first special exclusively literary issue of Kritika Kultura, the international online journal of language, literary and cultural studies published by the Department of English of Ateneo de Manila University. This issue is intended to be an anthology of new Philippine writing.

The Philippine literary community has a relatively longstanding tradition of releasing anthologies focusing on young writers. However, it can be gleaned that the notion of the “new” remains unarticulated, as recent anthologies simply focus on the “young,” and what becomes apparent is the persistent maintenance of an aesthetics solidified in various creative writing institutions and workshops, a notion that is rapidly rendered inaccurate by a healthy production of writing that these anthologies do not include.

What this issue of Kritika Kultura intends to accomplish is to represent the kind of writing that is rarely published, the kind that is not often legitimized by mainstream publications. The kind of writing that we, as editors, can confidently call “new.”

New, in this case, as the word that most succinctly describes literary texts that are mindful of—by way of formal response/appropriation and/or thematic confrontation—several cultural phenomena such as the preponderance of piracy, the simultaneous/schizophrenic sociopolitical conditions of the nation, the “new” government that includes so many of the old names, the highly provisional stances in criticism pertaining to society and art, the currency and increasing value of topicality and ephemera (as evidenced by BPOs, SEOs, and Facebook), the persistent dominance of celebrity culture, and the gossip paradigm of discourse. The anthology welcomes contributions that transgress genre boundaries, revise traditional modes and forms, formally engage with the largely oral, nontextual/extratextual literary practices of the Filipino audience, and display a technical alertness to the quandaries presented by blog-driven writing, Facebook fiction, protest poetry, the malleability of languages, the hegemony of academic publishing in “legitimate” literature, the dominion of western literary models, and, in light of these, the strategic and arguably fictionalizing construction of Filipino identity.

Contributions are welcome from Filipino writers who have not yet published books of their own. Submissions can be in any language, but English translations must be provided. Multiple submissions are accepted, but each submission (belonging to a particular genre) has a 5,000-word count limit. Submissions must not have appeared in national publications. When emailing submissions, provide a genre-label (such as Poetry or Nonfiction) for each. Submissions may be emailed to kk.litissue@gmail.com. The deadline for submissions is September 30, 2010. The issue will be released in February 2011.

Mark Anthony Cayanan
Conchitina Cruz
Adam David

Sipi tungkol sa Libro mula sa mga Libro

Mula sa "The Name of the Rose" ni Umberto Eco

"Until then I had thought each book spoke of the things, human or divine, that lie outside of books. Now I realized that not infrequently books speak of books: it is as if they spoke among themselves." p. 286

"Books are not made to be believed, but to be subjected to inquiry. When we consider a book, we mustn't ask ourselves what it says but what it means..." p. 316

Mula sa "Landscape Painted with Tea" ni Milorad Pavic

"A book, if you expect wonders of it, should also be read twice. It should be read once in youth, when you are younger than its heroes, and the second time when you are advanced in age and the book's heroes become younger than yourself. That way you will see them from both sides of their years, and they will be able to put you to the test on the other side of the clock, where time stands still. This means that sometimes it is forever too late to read some books, just as sometimes it is forever too late to go to bed." p. 67

Call for Manuscripts for the 10th Ateneo National Writers’ Workshop (ANWW)

Call for Manuscripts for the 10th Ateneo National Writers’ Workshop (ANWW)

Erratum: Inquiries about the workshop through email to Christine Bellen should now be addressed to her new email address: christinebellen@yahoo.com

The Ateneo Institute of Literary Arts and Practices (AILAP) with the support of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) is now accepting applicants for the 10th Ateneo National Writers Workshop (ANWW) to be held from Oct. 24-28, 2010 at the Ateneo de Naga University in Naga City.

This year, six (6) slots will be allocated exclusively for writers writing in any of the Bikol languages. The qualifications are: a) a resident of the Bicol region, b) writes in a Bikol language and c) can translate his/her manuscript into Filipino or English. Each applicant must submit a portfolio in triplicate (3 copies) of any of the following: a suite of five (5) poems OR a collection of three (3) short stories written in any Bikol language with a title page bearing the author’s pseudonym and a table of contents. The portfolio must include translations either in Filipino or in English. Entries in the Bikol languages must be addressed and submitted to Kristian S. Cordero, Philosophy Department, Ateneo de Naga University, Naga City 4400.

Another six (6) slots will be allocated for writers writing in Filipino and English. Each applicant must submit a portfolio in triplicate (3 copies) of any of the following: a suite of five (5) poems OR a collection of three (3) short stories written in Filipino or English with a title page bearing the author’s pseudonym and a table of contents. Entries in Filipino and English must be addressed and submitted to the Ateneo Institute of Literary Arts and Practices (AILAP) c/o Department of Filipino, School of Humanities, 3rd Flr. Dela Costa Bldg., Ateneo de Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City 1108.

The portfolio must be in Garamond, font size 12 with one (1”) inch margins on all sides. The portfolio must also be accompanied by a CD containing a file of the portfolio saved in MSWord (.doc or .docx) or Rich Text format (.rtf). All submissions must include a sealed envelope containing the author’s name, address, contact number, e-mail address and a one-page resume including a literary CV with a 1X1 ID picture.

Food and accommodations will be provided for all accepted applicants. Deadline of submission will be on Aug. 13, 2010. For more information, visit www.ailap.org, or call 426-6001 loc. 5320/5321 or e-mail Christine S. Bellen at christinebellen@yahoo.com and Kristian S. Cordero at boronyog@yahoo.com.

Rebyu: Cosmicomics (Mag-ingat sa Spoilers)

Ngayong buwan ay Short Story Month ayon sa Emerging Writers Network. At bilang pakikibahagi ko sa pagdiriwang na ito, magbibigay ako ng rebyu ng dalawang kalipunan ng maikling kuwento: Cosmicomics ni Italo Calvino at Collected Fictions ni Jorge Luis Borges. Noon nakalipas na mga buwan ko natapos ang pagbabasa ng mga librong ito pero dalawang dahilan lang naman talaga kung bakit ngayon ko lang ginagawa itong rebyu na ito: thesis at katamaran. Pasisimulan ko rin ang serye ng mga sanaysay tungkol sa mga paborito kong mga maiikling kuwento. Hindi ko matatapos ang serye na sa buwan na Mayo pero mainam na simulan na bilang balanse sa mga rebyu na ginagawa ko sa mga nobelang binabasa ko.

Sa ngayon sisimulan ko muna sa Cosmicomics ni Italo Calvino. Binubuo ng labindalawang kuwento ang kalipunang ito at pinag-uugnay ng iisang tagapagsalaysay, si Qfwfq, isang nilalang o kamalayan na dinanas ang simula ng uniberso at nabuhay hanggang sa kasalukuyang panahon. Lahat ng mga kuwento’y nagsisimula sa isang scientific theory o fact na nagiging premise para simula ni Qfwfq ang kanyang mga kuwento. Bagaman nakaugat sa agham ang premise ng mga kuwento, may oral na katangian ang mga kuwento sa Cosmicomics. Interesante ang mga premise ng mga kuwento subalit ang boses ni Qfwfq, ang kanyang pagsasalaysay ng mga nakaraang karanasan at ang mga damdaming nakaugnay sa mga karanasang ito, ang nagdadala sa lahat ng mga kuwento. Mapapansing halos lahat ng mga kuwento ay mga kuwento ng pag-ibig. Tanging ang “A Sign in Space,” “Games Without End,” “How Much Shall We Bet?” at “The Light-years” lamang ang mga kuwento na hindi kuwento ng pag-ibig. Sa mga kuwento na ito ng pag-ibig, nagtatapos ang lahat sa pagkasawi. Maaaring maiugat ito sa mismong premise ng mga kuwento. Lahat ng mga kuwento’y nakaugat sa isang sinasabing pinagdaanang pagbabago na nangyari sa mundo at maging sa uniberso. Halimbawa’y sa kuwentong “The Distance to the Moon,” nasanay ang mga tauhan na malapit lamang ang buwan sa Earth na kayang tumalon mula sa mga bangka sa gitna ng dagat ang mga tao tungo sa buwan. Napaibig si Qfwfq kay Mrs. Vhd Vhd at nang biglang magsimulang lumayo ang buwan sa Earth. Sa pagkakataong iyon, tinangka ni Qfwfq na makasama nang matagal si Mrs. Vhd Vhd subalit malinaw na hindi siya iniibig nito at nakaranas si Qfwfq ng matinding lungkot at pangungulila nang bumalik na siya sa mundo at iwan sa si Mrs. Vhd Vhd sa buwan.

Sa kabilang dako naman, paglalaro sa lawak ng mga scientific at mathematical premise ang nabanggit ko nang mga kuwentong hindi kuwento ng pag-ibig. Halimbawa nito’y sa kuwentong “The Light-years.” Minamasid ng tagapagsalaysay ang langit gamit ang kanyang teleskopya at nakita niya sa isa sa mga bituin ang isang plaka na nagsasabing “I SAW YOU.” Nabagabag ang tagapagsalaysay at ayon sa batas ng limitasyon ng paglalakbay ng liwanag ayon na rin kay Einstein, nakalkula ng tagapagsalaysay ang haba ng taon paroon at pabalik (na umaabot ng 200 milyong liwanag-taon) at inisip niya ang kung ano ang ginawa niya noong sandaling iyon. Sa kahabaan ng pakikipag-usap niya sa unang nagpaskil ng plaka na iyon, nagsulputan ang ibang plaka mula sa ibang mga bituin at mga galaxy tungkol sa kanyang ginawa. At dahil sa kanyang pagiging self-conscious sa mga plakang ito, tinangka niyang itama ang unang pagkakakilala ng mga tao sa kanyang ginawa pero nahihirapan na siya dahil unti-unting lumalayo ang mga bituin at galaxy sa bilis ng liwanag at dumating ang pagkakataon na hindi na niya kayang makipag-usap sa taong iyong unang nagpaskil ng “I SAW YOU.” At habambuhay na niyang dadalhin ang panghihinayang at pagkahiya ng isang sandaling nagawa milyon-milyong taon na ang nakararaan.

Ulit, bagaman may katangian ng pantasya at agham ang mga kuwentong ito, nakaugat pa rin sa payak at madaling maunawaang mga damdamin ang mga kuwento. Hiya. Lungkot. Pag-ibig. Inggit. At iba pa. At ito ang kapangyarihan ng kabuuang koleksiyon, ang bigyan ng pagkatao ang mga konseptong hindi natin binibigyang halaga. Gamit ng mga kuwentong ito, iniaangat ni Calvino ang mga konseptong pang-agham sa wika at kabuluhang lampas sa siyentipiko nitong katangian tungo sa antas ng talinghaga na may ipinakikita sa ating pagkatao.

Mga Patalastas Pampanitikan para sa Hunyo

1. Bukas ang HEIGHTS’ KUWENTONG PAMBATA sa lahat ng mag-aaral, guro at alumni ng Pamantasang Ateneo de Manila bagamat hindi maaaring sumali ang sinumang hurado at kasapi ng lupon ng pagpili ng Heights.
2. Maaaring kahit anong paksa ang piyesang hindi lalagpas sa 500 salita, sa wikang Filipino man o Ingles, subalit dapat angkop ito para sa antas ng pagbasa ng mga mag-aaral ng elementary edad 7-12.
3. Maaaring Rich Text Format (.rtf) or in a Microsoft Word Document (.doc) ang ipapasa, laktawan sa 8.5” x 11” bond paper, na may isang pulgadang palugit. Maaaring gamiting font ang Arial sukat 11, Times New Roman sukat 12, o Calibri sukat 12.
4. Sa isang hiwalay na dokumento isasama ang mga sumusunod: ang pangalan, sagisag-panulat, larawan (mainam kung 1×1 o 2×2), at 2-5 pangungusap ukol sa may-akda; at ang synopsis ng kuwento na hindi lalagpas sa 100 salita.
5. Ilakip ang dalawang dokumento sa ipapadalang e-mail sa heights.filipino@gmail.com na may paksang pamagat: KUWENTONG PAMBATA bago o sa mismong araw ng Hunyo 7, 2010.
6. Nangangahulugang hindi tagumpay sa pagpapasa ang anumang kakulangan sa hinihinging impormasyon at hindi maisasalang sa deliberasyon ang piyesa.
7. Magtatanghal ang lupon ng pagpili at ang mga hurado ng isang (1) mananalong piyesa upang mailathala bilang KUWENTONG PAMBATA 2010.

basahin ang Ingles na bersiyon dito.

***

CALL FOR ENTRIES FOR CCP ANI 36 JOURNAL

The Literary Arts Division of the Cultural Center of the Philippines is accepting contributions to its ANI 36 journal. The year’s volume focuses on the theme “Disaster and Survival”.

Works accepted are poems, short stories and essays in Filipino, English or any Philippine language with translation (or gist for prose) in Filipino or English.

The first decade of the 21st century brought record-breaking disasters such as typhoons, floods and landslides that tested the resiliency, resourcefulness and spiritual strength of the Filipinos and changed the history of the nation. This year’s best literary works reflective of the lessons learned from such events will be put together in ANI 36.

Submissions must be typewritten or computer-encoded in Arial 12 points, double-spaced on short bond paper (8.5” x 11”), accompanied by a sheet containing the author’s five-sentence biographical note, contact numbers and address, and tax identification number (TIN) for payment purposes.

Contributions must be submitted by email (aniyearbook@yahoo.com)as an MSWord attachment in rich text format (.rtf) addressed to The Editor, ANI 36, Literary Arts Division, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City 1300. Deadline for submission is June 30.

(For verification, please contact Mr. Hermie Beltran, tel. no. 832-1125 local 1706, 1707.)

mula dito ang anunsiyo.

The Universal Concern of the Writer

In the blog Bibliophile Stalker, a nerve has been hit because of the post entitled No Foriegners Allowed, which earned a response from deepad. Although the failings of the essay "No Foriegners Allowed" has been discussed by deepad, the real and true problem of the essay is that fails to ask the right questions. In his Response to Deepad's Open Letter, Charles restated the question that started the whole discussion, "So what's your opinion on what was supposed to be my main theme, which is whether it's permissible for someone to write about a culture that's not their own? Is it bullshit, or if the answer is yes, what are your qualifications before one does so?" As I have said in the comments section, this is an utterly superficial question. And as what all the other responses, it really would not matter for a writer and nothing could really stop him/her from doing so.

Again, I would like to point out the politics of representation. Charles's essays treat culture like it is made up of empirical data (or at least that how I got the impression) that can be portrayed transparently. (Lets side step, for now, the issue whether langauge can actually portray anything transparently.) No amount of research or immersion can give a writer everything that he/she needs because there will always be a gap with the culture that one was born into to the one that is being studied/portrayed. Culture is not made up of facts and data but is made up of signs. The signs of culture has many unsaid meanings that cannot be easily explained. Portraying these signs without fully understanding the meanings behind these signs could lead to many shortcomings like exoticism, Orientalism, even racism and neocolonialism. These problems doesn't just appear in writings of a writer from a majority culture writing about a minority culture, it can happen with the minority culture writing about a majority one. Again, either way, the politics of representation still come into play. The difference of cultures, each having different signs that embody a different understanding of the world, will always lead to misrepresentation.

The question then should be: can a writer go beyond this politics of representation? I would like to give the example of David Mitchell as a possible example of how one can go beyond the issues of misrepresentation. I've read Mitchell's "Ghostwritten" and "Cloud Atlas". I'll focus more on "Ghostwritten" because in this novel Mitchell writes about nine interconnected stories and each is set in a different country with characters from different nationalities. In summary of the novel, there is a Japanese cultist trying to escapes to Okinawa after he takes part in a gas attack in Tokyo's subways, a young Japanese boy working in a record store finds love with a half-Japanese, half-Chinese girl from Hong Kong, an Englishman who is caught up in a money laundering scandal lives in an apartment haunted by a ghost, a Chinese woman recounts her life living on a mountain in mainland China from her youth during the time of the warlords through the Cultural revolution until her old age during China's economic boom, a "non-corporeal entity" that can possess living creatures tries to find the mystery of his existence through inner and outer Mongolia, a group of Russian art thieves try to steal valuable paintings at a St. Petersburg museum, a day in a life a ghostwriter in London, an Irish scientist tries to run from the government so that they could not use her research for world domination, and finally, a Latino DJ in New York gets calls from what seems to be a sentient supercomputer. Especially with the narratives dealing with East Asian countries, one can always ask how faithful and true Mitchell's portrayal is of those other cultures. But reading through the novel, one really doesn't even care. You could easily understand that Mitchell is interested in themes that surpasses culture. He uses ALL his narratives to portray and examine the human existence. The recurring motif of "ghost" through out the novel become the jumping point for Mitchell to pose philosophical questions. What makes us human? Is the soul the only thing that makes us human? What is the soul? Is the soul inherently moral and ethical?

With the example of Ghostwritten, the issue of misrepresentation is side stepped because Mitchell's concerns himself with themes beyond race and culture. Again, it is Mitchell's particular world view that drives the novel and one can easily suspect it. But Mitchell is such a powerful writer that one can easily trust his voice. That though he uses postmodern techniques, one can trust him because of his deep concern for humanity.

One can now ask if there are things beyond culture and race. And I would like to believe that there is. Primal emotions like fear, hate, anger, greed and even the positive ones like love, kindness and joy. Again, each culture represents and portray these emotions differently because each culture signifies the world differently. But no matter what the differences may be, a writer's duty is for the truth, universal, cultural or class specific these may be. In the end, a writer is pulled and pushed by the specificity of one's cultural and personal experiences to the universal and primal concerns and emotions. In the end, we read to understand others and we write to understand ourselves.

Rebyu: Pedro Paramo

(Mag-ingat sa spoilers)

Walang mga pagbabahaginan o mga kabanata, tila isang mahabang panaginip ang "Pedro Paramo" ni Juan Rulfo. Nagsisimula ang nobela sa pagtatangkang hanapin ni Juan Preciado ang kanyang amang si Pedro Paramo. Pagmumulto ang pangunahing motif sa buong nobela. Pagdating na pagdating pa lamang ni Juan ay makakasalubong na siya ng isang multong magdadala sa kanya sa mismong bayan ng Comala at doo'y halos ang buong bayan ay pinamumugaran na lamang ng multo. Sa kalagitnaan ng nobela'y tila inihahayag na maging si Juan Preciado'y isang multo. At matatanong kung bakit nga ba nagmumulto ang halos buong bayan ng Comala? At dito papasok ang tauhang si Pedro Paramo. Siya ang naging sentro ng buhay ng buong Comala bilang kanilang don at patron. Kinain ni Pedro Paramo ang kanilang buhay kaya't pagdating sa kamataya'y nanatili silang tali sa Comala, puno ng pighati, galit, pangungulila at iba pa. Kaya kahit na hindi talaga nakilala ni Juan Preciado si Pedro Paramo (patay na si Pedro Paramo nang makarating si Juan Preciado sa Comala), bumalik siya't tila naging multo dahil, tulad ng iba pa, malaking anino si Pedro Paramo maging sa kabilang buhay.

Linggo ng Muling Pagkabuhay

Isang maligayang Linggo ng Muling Pagkabuhay sa inyong lahat. Sa huli kong post, nabanggit ko na ang ilang mga bagay na gusto kong gawin sa bakasyon. Sa post na ito, bilang pagdiriwang sa muling pagkabuhay ni Hesus, iisa-isahin ko ang mga mahahalagang bagay na iyon.

1) Tapusin ang unang isyu ng Tapat. (Tingnan ko kung magkakasalubong kami ni Egay sa Lunes para ayusin na ito.) [ ]
2) Magsulat ng mga maikling kuwento. (May ipinangako akong isang kuwento sa isang kaibigan dagdag pa ang isang kuwentong kasunod sa mga kuwentong isinulat para sa thesis at isang "wala lang, mukhang masaya lang talaga ang ideya" na kuwento. So tatlong kuwento.) [ ]
3) Mag-rebisa ng mga kuwento. (Bukod pa sa mga kuwentong kasama sa thesis, may ilan pa akong mga kuwento na hindi kasama sa thesis na kailangan ding rebisahin.) [ ]
4) Magpasa sa kung saan. (Konektado sa bilang 3, kailangang na muling malathala. Para hindi mawala sa balat ng lupa. :P) [ ]
5) Ayusin ang syllabus. (Dahil magulo pa rin ang aking mga lecture notes at gusto kong magkaroon ng powerpoint lectures para hindi na ako maging dragging. Sana bigyan ako ng load next school year. :D) [ ]
6) Magbasa. (Binili ko, di syempre, kailangang basahin ang mga librong naipon, di ba?) [ ]
7) Magpahinga aka magtamad-tamaran. (Sa tendensiyang maging tamad, mukhang itong bilang 7 ang magawa ko imbes sa unang anim. Huwag naman sana.) [ ]

Babalikan ko ito sa pagtatapos ng bakasyon para sukatin ang sarili ko. Time is money at para umasenso kailangang gumawa. (Sana hindi ko kainin ang sarili kong mga salita.)