Philippine literary luminaries to grace Taboan 2012

The country’s National Artists for Literature will grace this year’s Taboan, a yearly writers’ festival spearheaded by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

National Artists Virgilio S. Almario, Bienvenido Lumbera, and F. Sionil Jose will join   writers Butch Dalisay, Aida Rivera Ford, Charlson Ong, and many more poets, playwrights, fictionists, and novelists from different parts of the country who will converge in Fontana Leisure Park, Clark, Pampanga from February 9 to 11, 2012 for a literary exchange, book bazaar, and, for the first time in the history of Taboan, a food-and-culture tour. 

Almario will serve as the keynote speaker.  Under the theme, ‘Rizal and the Filipino Imagination,’ he will take a look at Jose Rizal as a writer and cultural icon, and how his writings have influenced Filipino writers and artists across generations.  

 Lumbera and Jose, on the other hand, will lead the discussion on how literature from Central Luzon reflects the connection between the region’s geography and agricultural production and its long and colorful history. 

In the two-day conference, writers from different parts of the country, young and old, will exchange views on various topics including how writers under 35 see themselves vis-a-vis Rizal and the nation, literary criticism and literary standards, historical fiction (or literature and national memory), writing from the regions, teaching literature, women and writing, writing as a profession, literature and new media, traditional texts in contemporary times, and many more.  The third day of the festival will tour the delegates around Pampanga, to sample native cuisine as well as the province's cultural landscape.

Led by Kapampangan literature specialist Dr. Juliet Mallari and NCLA head Chancellor Priscilla Macansantos, the Taboan in Pampanga has partnered with Clark Development Corporation (CDC) and Systems Plus College Foundation (SPCF) to welcome the literary luminaries to the festival.  Visit the official website at taboanfestival2012.blogspot.com to find out more.

Besides the main event in Pampanga, Taboan satellite events will also be held in various parts of the country.

• Panagbenga: Baguio Poetry Reading for Arts Month 2012

• Ilokano Oral Reading Competition in Ilocos Norte

• Edith & Kerima: A Tribute-Exhibit on the Lives & Works of Two Icons of Philippine Literature in UP Diliman

• A jointly-sponsored activity by Taboan 2012 and Ateneo de Manila University

• Pintakasi kan Literaturang Bikolnon: An Ikaduwang Kabtang (Feb 16-17)

• Katig han Sinirangan Bisayas: A writers’ conference and literary performances, Feb 3

• Taboan 2012 Satellite Activity in Tagbilaran, Bohol, Feb. 24

• Performance Poetry in Bacolod City, Feb. 23-24

• A Performance of Traditional Poetry in Central & Northern Mindanao

• Cosechas: A Harvest of Poems and Stories from Western Mindanao, Feb. 18-1

Taboan is one of the seven flagship projects of the NCCA for the Philippine Arts Festival (PAF) which is held every February in celebration of the National Arts Month in pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 683 signed in 1991.

NCCA is led by its chairman Felipe de Leon Jr. and OIC-executive director Adelina Suemith. For more details on this year's Taboan, visit its official site here.