Attending the Taboan Writers Festival in Pampanga are no less than the country's National Artists for Literature.
February 9 / 9:30 – 11:30 AM / Convention Hall of Fontana Convention Center, CFZ, Pampanga
National Artist for Literature VIRGILIO S. ALMARIO is better known in literary circles by his pseudonym Rio Alma. He is a foremost poet and critic in Filipino aside from being an outstanding translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager.
He grew up in a farming community in Camias, San Miguel de Mayumo, Bulacan. He completed his A.B. Political Science at the University of the Philippines in 1963 and immediately accepted a teaching job in San Miguel High School, his alma mater. There he devoted the early years of his career as a classroom teacher of social studies in his hometown.
His work has received, among others, several Palanca awards, two grand prizes from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the Makata ng Taon of the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, the TOYM for literature, and the Southeast Asia Write Award of Bangkok. He was recognized as an outstanding citizen by his own province in Dangal ng Lipi Award (1993), by Manila in its Gawad Patnubay ng Sining (1992), and by Quezon City in its Gantimpalang Quezon (1993). He was declared one of the outstanding writers and artists of the century during the CCP centennial celebration.
Towards the end of 1998 he was elected Executive Director by the Board of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). He accepted the challenge. Upon secondment by U.P. in January 1999, he served as Executive Director and Commissioner of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts until 2001. When he returned to U.P. he was chosen Director of the Institute of Creative Writing in 2002. He did not finished his term as Director for he was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Letters in 2003. On 25 June 2003 he was proclaimed National Artist for Literature.
Read more at http://www.panitikan.com.ph/nationalartists/vsalmario.htm.
February 10 / 9:30 – 11:30 AM / Lily Room of Fontana Convention Center, CFZ, Pampanga
National Artist for Literature F. SIONIL JOSE was born in Rosales, Pangasinan in December 1924. He had to help support his family at a young age raising hogs and working as a farm laborer. He studied at the Rosales Elementary School, Far Eastern University High School, and the University of Santo Tomas (UST). His short stories and essays have been translated into several languages and have won Palanca grand prizes, the grand prize in the CCP Literary contest, first-prize awards from the National Press Club, the Fernando Ma. Guerrero Memorial Foundation Award for Literature from UST, the Republic Cultural Heritage Award, the Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award from the city government of Manila, the Tawid Award for Cultural Nationalism from the Ilocano Heritage Foundation, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Smilth-Mundt Leader Grant, two Asian Foundation grants, the Asian and Pacific Council fellowship, and the Outstanding Alumnus Award from UST. He became National Artist for Literature in 2001.
Read more at http://www.panitikan.com.ph/nationalartists/fsjose.htm.
Read more at http://www.panitikan.com.ph/nationalartists/blumbera.htm.
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Guest Panelist on the topic Offline, Online: Alternative Publishing
February 10 / 3:00 – 5:00 PM / Fontana Convention Center, CFZ, Pampanga
An instructor at a national university, ALICE A. SARMIENTO launched the on-line magazine New Slang (http://new-slang.com) with Paolo Cruz, Jaton Zulueta and Marla Cabanban in January 2010. To quote from the website: “New Slang is a theme-based online publication...If you’re interested in submitting a story, feel free to contact us. This space will continue to exist as long as there’s something to see here, so keep the submissions coming.”
