Taboan 2013: The Philippine Writers Festival, the festival for literature by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) is the flagship project of NCCA’s National Commission for Literary Arts, will be held at Dumaguete city’s Bethel Guesthouse from February 7 to 9, 2013.
About 100 seasoned and 50 emerging writers will be gracing the festival to talk about the concerns and issues of literature in the Philippines. Aside from our local artists, Taboan also invited some foreign literary writers to join the literary fest.
This year’s Taboan will focus on Visayan literature with “Katitikang Bisaya.” During the festival, Taboan 2013 will hold parallel sessions on various topics such as “Your Place at the Writers’ Table,” “Chinoy Writing, Writing Chinoy,” “Experimenting with Genres” and “Gender Factor”, among others.
Music and dance theater presentations by cultural groups from the universities such as Tanjay City Symphony Orchestra and the award-winning Rondalla group of the Municipality of Dauin will be expected as well as performances of Siday, Balitao and Balak by writers from the Visayas region. These performances will be free to the public in the evenings at the Rizal Boulevard’s boardwalk.
A book fair, food and culture and arts exhibits will also be held at the Boulevard. Also, Visayan writers who have made important contributions to Visayan literature will be awarded.
Dr. Resil B. Mojares, author and scholar of Philippine Arts & Culture, will be the keynote speaker of Taboan 2013 delivering an address on “The Nation in the Visayan Imagination.”
Filipino poets, fictionists, essayists, among others, will be expected to join the celebration. There will be lectures, discussions and presentation of literary works. This will also be a venue for writers to interact with each other and make connection to fellow writers, publishers and the academe.
This year’s festival will also be held in Pampanga on February 22, Tacloban city, Leyte and Capul of Northern Samar on February 23 to 24 and in Ateneo de Manila University on March 1. Taboan 2013 will be a venue not only for writers but also for students, teachers and lovers of the literary to learn from the experts and be inspired to their stories and experiences.
Last year, the annual festival was held in Pampanga and was graced by different literary artists such as National Artists F. Sionil Jose, Virgilio Almario and Bienvenido Lumbera, poet Michael Coroza and fictionist Charlson Ong, among others.
Kalatas: Philippine Literature, Culture, and Ideas 