TWO THOMASIAN alumni are set to join the prestigious 58th Silliman University National Writers Workshop.
Literature graduate Arielle Abrigo and Communication Arts alumnus Samuel Evardone will be fellows for poetry and fiction, respectively.
“The [w]orkshop is treated as a rite of passage for those who sincerely value the craft of writing. I am grateful to be a part of [its] 58th edition,” Abrigo told the Varsitarian.
Abrigo’s submission to the workshop is the extension of her “Lakása, which won first prize in the poetry category and the Rector’s Literary Award of Varsitarian-organized 34th Gawad Ustetika.
“It sustains my exploration of identity, which is rooted in the context of Ilocos. It delves into specific utterances, those I consider as complexities in my native language,” she said. “Questions I entertain daily, such as the notion of origin, became one of the inspirations in writing the manuscript.”
Abrigo, who is taking up her master’s degree in creative writing at the University of the Philippines Diliman, has participated in a number of writing workshops.
She was a fellow of the Varsitarian Creative Writing Workshop, the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies’ Thomasian Students Summer Writers’ Workshop, and the Ateneo National Writers’ Workshop.
Evardone, who is also taking up master’s degree in creative writing at the De La Salle University, was a fellow of 2018 Virgin Labfest Writing, a two-week drama writing mentorship program by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
“As a young writer, [I] want to get as much experience as [I] can, so I made a goal to get into a writers workshop. For me, you have to chase your literary idols,” Evardone said in an online interview.
One of the short stories that earned Evardone the fellowship is his “To the Shareholders of the Mabuhay Hotel,” a reimagination of a hotel president’s resignation letter that is “in the form of a corporate report to the board.”
Other works he submitted to the workshop are the short story “Paco’s Retreat” and an excerpt of his novel-in-progress titled “Manila Animal.”
Silliman University National Writers Workshop, the oldest creative writing program in Asia, was founded in 1962 by SEAWrite awardee Edilberto Tiempo and National Artist for Literature Edith Tiempo.
This year’s workshop will be held May 6 to 17 at the Rose Lamb Sobrepeña Writers Village in Dumaguete.
