Website promotes Filipino literature

By Alexander Villafania
Last updated 11:09pm (Mla time) 05/27/2006


A new website developed by the University of the Philippines Diliman Institute of Creative Writing (UP-ICW) and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) aims to become the country’s portal for Filipino literature.

Panitikan.com.ph (www.panitikan.com.ph) ighlights the works of some of the country’s veteran literary artists and opens an opportunity for budding writers to have their work published for free.

The site is targeted at researchers, students and literature enthusiasts. It is also targeted at Filipinos abroad who may want to learn more about original works of contemporary Filipino writers.

Among the current genres highlighted in the portal are poetry, fiction, non-fiction, children’s literature, literary criticism and folk literature.

Sample works posted in the site were written by Carlos Palanca Memorial Awardees such as Jose Dalisay Jr., Alejandro Abadilla, Francisco Arcellana, J. Niel Garcia, Lualhati Bautista, Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, among others.

Project Coordinator Eva Garcia-Cadiz said the NCCA wanted to reestablish the relevance of Filipino literature, especially among the country’s younger generation as well as Filipinos abroad.

Cadiz, who is taking her Master’s degree in Philippine Studies, said they would eventually include a new section for regional writers, which would include original Filipino works written in traditional dialects. They would also include another section for hobby writers.

“We’d like more Filipinos to show their talents writing in both Filipino, English and in traditional dialects. The Internet would be a powerful tool for us to get in touch with the country’s literary artists,” Cadiz said.
Philippine Daily Inquirer

yeah i'd like to see more and more filipino writers. i use to wanted to write about a psuedo-autobiography ala Angela's Ashe's style, but never had time.

I agree but not in english we need to strengthen our literature in our own languages be it in tagalog or bisaya or whatever.

There's nothing wrong writing in English; however I'd like to see more of our own written in our native tongues.

well actually i'd like to see either english or filipino. because it seems to me that either english or filipino written books by kababayan is rare. or it seems to me.