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Friday, March 29, 2024

In karaoke bars, in bed: Literary contest winners reveal creative process

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Every writer goes through a process before they come up with a creative work: others go for a long walk, others grab a cup or two of coffee, while others like Niles Jordan Breis, one of the two grand prize winners  in this year’s Premyo Valledor Para Sa Nobelang Bikol, drinks beer in a karaoke bar. 

In karaoke bars, in bed: Literary contest winners reveal creative process
Premyo Valledor Para Sa Nobelang Bikol 2019 winners Niles Jordan Breis and Jerome Hipolito 

Set in post-Martial Law 1985, Breis’ winning entry Kalatraban sa Alkawaran tells the tale of the uncorrupted body of a desaparecido that surfaces after 32 years”•and the best friend who comes home to authenticate it. It took him about four months to complete the novel and in a place that seems to have come straight out of the pages of a novel. 

“Every night, while drinking beer in a dark and noisy videoke bar,” says Breis who writes in longhand. “I like that kind of disruption because I’m forced to focus. Pero titigil ako kung gusto ko yung kanta (But I will stop writing if I like the song)!”

For this Tabaco City, Albay native, writing in the Bicol language is deceptively simple, though he says the language’s sensibilities “affect the way I write in English and Pilipino. The diction, the nuances, the rhythm of my poetry is peculiar to those who write and speak in pure Pilipino.” 

Meanwhile, the other grand winner, Jerome Hipolito, turned to creative non-fiction to come up with his novel Dyurnal Intris. It is about the journal entries of a young student who always wanted to write a novel. 

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“Parts of the journal entries were already written way before the contest,” he shares. “Writing a novel had always been in the back of my mind, so when the call for entries came, I continued it.” 

While fellow poet Breis can bang out pages even in the most non-conducive work environments, Hipolito prefers to write in bed and during what he calls “moments of brilliance.” Fortunately, they come often: besides his award-winning novel, the creative writing teacher at the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture has penned poetry, essays, and short stories. 

Hipolito enjoys the experience of creating his first novel because “I made sure my character is a poet, so it’s autobiographical. I like the form but it really takes time to write.” Still, he’s already got an idea”•a moment of brilliance, if you will”•of his follow-up to Dyurnal Intris. “Another novel,” he reveals, “this time from the point of view of the teacher.” 

Premyo Valledor is an annual search for the best original novel written in the Bicol language. Open to Bicolano writers of all ages, the competition places no limitations on a novel’s theme, style, or length.  

Breis and Hipolito each received a trophy handmade by Daet artist Paolo Gerero and a cash award of P50,000. Both novels will also be published by the Ateneo de Naga University Press and circulated in book tours to encourage locals to read and appreciate modern literature in their native tongue. 

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