The Philippine Center of International PEN (Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists), in partnership with Northwest Samar State University (NwSSU), will hold a literature teachers’ training workshop focusing on 21st Century Literatures from the Philippines. This will be on 3-4 April 2017, Monday-Tuesday, at NwSSU, Calbayog City, Western Samar.

In the 2010 Cebu Congress, PEN passed a resolution to “work more closely with the education sector, its leaders, planners and administrators, its teachers and students, and the education publishing industry, to improve literature education in the country. The Philippine PEN recognizes that literary taste is shaped in the schools, especially the public school system; it is where generations must be taught to appreciate the outstanding works of our very own writers, works that constitute the soul of our nation.”

Since 2011, PEN has organized a series of literature teaching workshops across the country. Called “For Love of the Word: Workshops on Teaching Philippine Literature in High School and College,” this project is geared toward retooling and upgrading the skills of literature teachers in both secondary and tertiary levels. Workshops were successfully held in Manila, Iloilo, Cebu, Baguio, Naga, Bohol, Cagayan de Oro, and Davao.

As part of the PEN Civil Society Programme, the workshop is supported by PEN International, Clifford Chance Foundation, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). This event is also held in celebration of National Literature Month (Buwan ng Panitikan ng Filipinas), which has the support of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, and the National Book Development Board.

The resource speakers and workshop facilitators for the NwSSU workshop will be: Dr. Dinah Roma, prize-winning poet and professor of literature and creative writing at De La Salle University, Manila; and Dr. Victor N. Sugbo, professor of communication and literature at the University of the Philippines Visayas, Tacloban, and recipient of national awards such as Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas 2016 from the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL) and the Taboan Literary Award (2013) from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts National Committee on the Literary Arts. Harold Mercurio, NwSSU professor, will talk about local resource materials and publications.

As part of the program, a writers’ forum will feature award-winning intellectuals and writers based in Eastern Visayas who will read their work and talk about the topic “Writing to Sustain our Home, our Habitat.”

There is no registration fee. Workshop materials and a certificate of participation will be given to each participant. Participants will have to take care of their own travel arrangements, accommodation, and meals.

For pre-registration, please submit the names of your participant/s and institution to PEN. You may email philippinepen@yahoo.com or text +639151285710 (contact person: Shirley Lua). Deadline for pre-registration: 24 March 2017. (A Press Release)