Oct. 6 2016, 2:41 a.m. – HERE’S a tip for aspiring creative writers: Be “creative readers” first.
“In a sense, we have a lot of creative writers. But who reads them? We need readers, creative readers who appreciate the literary text,” said writer Ralph Semino Galan in a conference at the Thomas Aquinas Research Complex Auditorium last Oct. 5.
Galan, assistant director of the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (UST-CCWLS), said that when people become trained readers, creative writing will naturally follow.
“We need a creative reading workshop rather than a creative writing workshop so that readers could be more informed and could influence other readers,” he said.
In poetry, for instance, recitation has more impact than the written text, he said. “Poetry is a sonic literary form that is best experienced when spoken and heard,” Galan said.
The lecture, titled “The Literary Muse in Manila,” was part of the 2016 Taboan Literary Festival, an annual gathering of authors and scholars seeking to revitalize the literary culture in the Philippines.
The festival was funded by the National Commission on Culture and Arts and was held in partnership with the UST-CCWLS and the National Committee on the Literary Arts.
