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 April 3-4, at NwSSU, Calbayog City, Western Samar.

Workshop is supported by PEN International, Clifford Chance Foundation, and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

Event is held in celebration of National Literature Month (Buwan ng Panitikan ng Filipinas), which is supported by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA, Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, and National Book Development Board.

Resource speakers and facilitators will be Dinah Roma, Ph.D., prize-winning poet and professor of literature and creative writing at De la Salle University, Manila; and Victor N. Sugbo, Ph.D., professor of communication and literature at the University of the Philippines Visayas, Tacloban. He received the Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtas (2016) of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas and the Taboan Literary Award (2013) from the NCCA National Committee on the Literary Arts.

Harold Mercurio, Calbayog-based writer and NwSSU professor, will talk about local resource materials and publications.

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.” Writers include Merlie Alunan, Nemesio Baldesco, Lydia de la Rosa and Yvonne Esperas.

There is no registration fee. Participants will have to take care of their own travel arrangements, accommodation and meals.

 Deadline for pre-registration is March 24. Slots are limited. E-mail names of participant/s and institution at [email protected] or text Shirley Lua at 09151285710.