Category: Editor’s Note

Call for applications to the Ateneo National Writers Workshop 2012

Editor's Note | March 2, 2012

The Ateneo Institute of Literary Arts and Practices (AILAP), with the support from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), and in cooperation with Humanities Division of Ateneo de Davao University and Heights: The Official Literary and Artistic Publication and Organization of the Ateneo de Manila University, is now accepting applicants for the 11th Ateneo National Writers Workshop (ANWW) to be held from May 21 to 25, 2012 in Davao City.

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 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. The resume must mention the applicant’s province of origin.

Twelve slots are open to beginning writers, from which a few slots will be allocated exclusively to writers from Mindanao and to Heights members. Food and accommodations will be provided for all accepted applicants. Deadline of submission will be on March 31, 2012. For more information, e-mail AILAP Director Dr. Edgar C. Samar at esamar-at-ateneo-dot-edu; or this year’s workshop director, Mr. Allan Derain, at allanderain2003-at-yahoo-dot-com.

Photos from the Davao Writers Workshop 2011

Editor's Note by | October 28, 2011

DWW2011-01
Davao Writers Workshop Fellows with some members of the Davao Writers Guild:
From left: Dom Cimafranca (standing), (seated) Rene Estremera, Jhoanna Cruz, Aida Rivera Ford, Josie Tejada, Vanessa Doctor, Macario Tiu, and Jondy Arpilleda (standing).


PANELISTS Timothy Montes, Macario Tiu, and Januar Yap


Panelist JOHN BENGAN giving his lecture on “Writing the Vernacular in English”


Fellow JOCY SO-YEUNG of Sun.Star Davao receiving her certificate from Workshop Director JHOANNA CRUZ and Panelist ANTONINO DE VEYRA (also Chair of UP Mindanao Humanities Department)


First Prize winner of the 1ng Satur Apoyon Tigi sa Mubong Sugilanong Binisaya: AL PONCIANO DATU of Cagayan de Oro with Judges MACARIO TIU, DON PAGUSARA, and ARNEL MARDOQUIO. Also in picture is Davao Writers Guild president, JHOANNA CRUZ.

Saturnino P. Apoyon (1935 – 2011): Peryodista, Magsusugilanon, Nobelista, ug Magbabalak

Editor's Note by | June 5, 2011

Natawo si Saturnino Pinoso Apoyon sa Lincod, Maribojoc, Bohol sa Disyembre 24, 1935. Sa Bohol, nagtrabaho siya isip koresponsal sa Bohol Chronicle, ug sa edad nga 25, milalin siya sa Dabaw. Dinhi na siya sa Dabaw nagpuyo sulod sa kapin 50 anyos. Sa Dabaw, nagtrabaho siya sa Department of Social Welfare and Development sulod sa 11 ka tuig, ug sa Philippines News Agency sugod 1980, ug miretiro sa 2001.

Bisan sa iyang trabaho, gipalambo niya ang iyang panulat, ug nahimong aktibo sa mga kapunongan sa mga magsusulat. Usa siya sa tigtukod sa Diwa sa Dagang Bisaya (DIDABI) niadtong mga tuig 1960, ug maoy unang presidente sa Davao Writers Guild, Inc. Siya ang nahimong representante sa Eastern Mindanao sa NCCA Committee on Literary Arts gikan July 2001 hangtod June 2004.

Ang iyang obra molangkob og 65 ka mubong sugilanon, upat ka nobelang namantala, 57 ka mga balak, ug daghang mga artikulo, komiks, ug pakatawa. Midawat siya sa unang ganti sa tigi sa Bathalad-Mindanao sa 2000. Ang iyang libro sa mga mubong sugilanon nag-ulohan og Ang Gakit ni Noebong ug Ubang mga Sugilanon (2008) gimantala sa NCCA ug Davao Writers Guild.

Isip pag-ila sa iyang mga nahimo sa pagpalambo sa panulat sa Dabaw ug sa Mindanaw, gihatag sa iyaha sa National Commission for Culture and the Arts ang Taboan Literary Award sa ika-3 Taboan Philippine International Writers Festival nga gibuhat sa Dabaw atong Pebrero 2011.

Book launch: "Best of Dagmay" and "Fractional Lives"

Editor's Note by | May 14, 2011

We will launch the Davao Writers Guild’s two latest books, “The Best of Dagmay” and “Fractional Lives” on May 28, 2011, Saturday, at 3:00PM at Ateneo de Davao University.

To indicate your participation in the book launch, please sign up at our confirmation page.

“Fractional Lives” is a collection of Margarita Marfori’s short fiction. The collection spans her writing career, dating back to her first published story in 1995 to new previously unpublished fiction. Marfori’s quiet, emotional stories reveal vulnerable characters struggling with alienation and personal anguish.

“The Best of Dagmay” is an anthology of the best works of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama appearing between 2007 and 2009 in Dagmay, the weekly literary journal of the Davao Writers Guild. Appearing as a weekly insert and online, Dagmay has published works from hundreds of Mindanao writers. This book compiles 97 pieces from 77 young authors. Below is the table of contents of “The Best of Dagmay”:

Continue reading Book launch: "Best of Dagmay" and "Fractional Lives"

Thanks for Taboan

Editor's Note by | February 13, 2011

The Davao Writers Guild, along with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, would like to thank everyone who attended the 3-day Taboan International Writers Festival at the Royal Mandaya Hotel. Special thanks goes out to the LCB Performing Arts Center Foundation for the entertaining performances and support for this entire event.

Of course, the festival would not have been a success without the writers from all over the country, and the world, who shared new insights and encouraged a greater sense of heart toward the arts and the written word. Until the next year!

Taboan International Writers Festival in Davao

Editor's Note | January 20, 2011

Dear Friends,

From February 10 to 12, we will hold the Taboan Writers Festival at the Royal Mandaya Hotel. The festival will bring in writers from all over the Philippines. This is your chance to meet those whose work you have read and to discuss with them their craft.

The main component of the festival will be conference sessions. Throughout the three days, we will talk about our roots in culture and the directions that young writers are taking Philippine literature. Supporting this activity are book launchings, book fairs, outreach visits to schools in Davao, cultural performances, and awards for esteemed writers in Mindanao.

Taboan is free and open to the public (though if you wish to have lunch at the hotel for the three days of the conference, you have the option to pay the P1,500 deluxe guest fee.)

Please visit the Taboan web site for details of the conference. We would appreciate if you could take the time to register if you are attending. And please forward this invitation to your friends.

Thank you. Hope to see you at Taboan!

Editor's Note on "Jonathan"

Editor's Note by | January 17, 2010

In the June 28, 2009 issue, a short story titled “Jonathan” by Jeff Javier was published in DAGMAY by editor Vanessa Doctor. Then on Dec. 13, 2009, I also published a slightly different version of “Jonathan” but credited to Laverne de la Cruz. I asked the two authors for clarification but only Mr. Javier replied.

It is now clear to me that

(1) the story “Jonathan” is authored by Mr. Javier;

(2) the June 9 version is the second version while the Dec. 13 version was the first draft, as explained by Mr. Javier;

(3) the story is a “spinoff” from “Christine” by Lilledeshan Bose (which begins, “Everybody has a girlfriend named Christine. Kris, Christy, Tin-Tin/ Ina Christina, Tina, Kat, Trina.”) which is the second part of her “Break-Up Stories”;

(4) Mr. Javier had sent me almost a year ago the first version together with a poem written “after Laverne de la Cruz”; and

(5) somehow in my previous shuffling of pieces while doing editorial work for DAGMAY, the byline of Ms. de la Cruz got appended to that “Jonathan” version in my file that I inadvertently published in December last year as a work by Laverne de la Cruz.

No wonder she has not replied to my email—there was no need to reply. The error was wholly mine and it was unintended and not meant to malign the reputations of Mr. Javier and Ms. de la Cruz. My apologies therefore to Jeff and Laverne for the mistake. Ricardo de Ungria

Winners for the Bisaya Fiction Contest

Editor's Note by | October 12, 2009

The judges have chosen the winners from the field of 21 entries. They are:

1st Prize Winner: Ug Mingiob ang Kalibotan by Raul Moldez
2nd Prize Winner: Kadula by Brian Ang
3rd Prize Winner: Mga Dalan sa Downtown by Javin Jet Tevar

Awarding ceremony will be at Bagobo House Hotel, Gov. Duterte St., on October 17, 5:00 PM.