by Contributed News
The MSU-IIT hosts the 2018 National Literature Month (NLM) on April 24-25, 2018 at the Mini-theatre and at the Kalinaw Hall of the Institute for Peace & Development of Mindanao (IPDM).
The nation celebrates NLM by virtue of Presidential Decree 986 signed on February 10, 2015 by then President Benigno Aquino III.
The NLM celebrates Francisco ‘Balagtas’ Baltazar Day and honors other national writers like Emilio Jacinto and the National Artists for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera, Cirilo F. Bautista, Virgilio Almario, F. Sionil Jose and the late Jose Garcia Villa, Edith Tiempo, and Francisco Arcellana, among others.
Last year the Institute celebrated NLM emphasizing the Spoken Word Poetry or, what is popularly known among the young as ‘Hugot’.
Stellar performances by some of the pioneers of the Spoken Word Poetry in the country like Kooky Tuason and Lourd de Veyra, Vim Nadera and Joel Toledo were held at the Gymnasium. Their local counterparts joined them through the performances of their own compositions in Sebuano and in Filipino.
This year’s celebration will have the participation of children of evacuees, members of the Iligan National Police Office and women troopers of the Philippine Army’s Task Force Ranaw.
Workshops and a showcase will follow a forum on playwriting, poetry and on storytelling for children by invited writers Santiago S. Diokno, Rebecca T. Añonuevo and Genaro Gojo Cruz.
Diokno is scion of the prominent Diokno family in Manila. He is a prize-winning playwright, architect, contractor-businessman and a media practitioner. He finished a degree in Mass Media and Literature from De La Salle University and a degree in Architecture from the California College of Arts in the US.
Añonuevo is a prize-winning poet and in 2013, she received the SEA (Southeast Asian) Write Award from the King of Thailand. She finished her doctorate at the De La Salle University where her dissertation was adjudged the best. At present, she is President of the Navotas Polytechnic College. She has published six collections of poetry and she runs her own publishing company. She and her lawyer-husband, JP Cuñada were former writing fellows of the Iligan National Writers Workshop.
Gojo-Cruz is likewise a former writing fellow to the Iligan National Workshop. He is a faculty of the Department of Literature of the De La Salle University. A prize-winning poet in his own right, he has published sixty (60) books of stories for children.
The Institute’s resident cultural groups, the Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG) and the Kalilang Traditional Cultural Ensemble will perform during the NLM program.
The NLM celebration is funded by the National Commission for Culture & Arts and the Institute. The Project Director is Dr. Christine F. Godinez Ortega.
Topics : Literature NLM NCCA National Artists Spoken Word Poetry performance arts