The Cultural Center of the Philippines partners with Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL), Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika, at Anyo (LIRA), an organization of poets who write in the national language, and Merck Inc., a leading multinational science and technology company for a national poetry seminar tomorrow, Dec. 8, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the Silangan Hall, CCP, Roxas Blvd., Pasay City.
The seminar, also known as “Programang Pambansang Edukasyong Pampanitikan” or National Literary Education Program, is LIRA’s award-winning flagship advocacy that has been travelling around the country since 2008 to teach the art of traditional Filipino poetry. To date, it has already benefitted over a thousand teachers and students. In 2011, it brought home for LIRA a Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO) award, a first for any literary organization in the country.
The CCP seminar lecturers are UMPIL Chairperson Dr. Michael M. Coroza (on the art of Filipino rhyme and meter) and Ateneo de Manila University professor Dr. Louie Jon A. Sánchez (on figurative language and poetic sensibility). Following the seminar, at 6:00 p.m., is a special poetry night commemorating LIRA’s 33rd founding anniversary.
LIRA was founded in 1985 by National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario, also known as the master poet in the Filipino Language Rio Alma.
From a small group of young writers, its membership grew to more than a hundred over the past three decades, with many publishing highly-acclaimed books, winning national and international literary contests, and becoming sought-after teachers, scholars, arts and culture advocates, and public intellectuals.
For details, please call Kim or Marjorie of CCP Intertextual Division at 551-5959 or email ccpintertextualdivision@gmail.com.
