Multi-awarded Ilonggo writer launches book of Ilonggo short stories
Multi-awarded writer and winner of the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (Short Story in Hiligaynon) Prof. Alice Tan-Gonzales launched her book entitled “Sa Taguangkan sang Duta kag Iban Pa nga Sugilanon (In the Womb of the Earth and Other Stories)” at the UPV Art Gallery on December 4, 2009 at UPV Iloilo City Campus.
The book is a collection of 10 awarded short stories that feature the following titles:1.) Sa Taguangkan sang Duta; 2.) Isa ka Pungpong nga Rosas; 3.) Mga Luha para kay Tatay Jose; 4.) Tulokbon; 5.) Dawata Anak; 6.) Ezperanza; 7.) Sa Pag-abut sang Tingulan; 8.) Baha; 9.) Dabadaba sa Sidlangan; and 10.) Ang Likum sang Isla San Miguel.
The launching was graced by UPV Officials led by Chancellor Minda J. Formacion and Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Development Alice Joan Ferrer and Prof. Tan’s mentors and colleagues from the Division of Humanities as well as faculty members and staff of the University. Also present were several local artists and writers. A review of “Sa Taguangkan sang Duta” was read as well as excerpts from three of the stories in the book.
In her speech Prof. Gonzales, thanked her mentors, especially Dr. Leoncio P. Deriada, who she said gave her the push to write. Dr. Deriada is one of the most accomplished and multi-awarded writers of fiction in the country. She also acknowledged the support of her colleagues, the UPV administration, and her thesis adviser while pursusing a PhD in UP Diliman.
Prof. Gonzales revealed that Yuhum Magazine was a favorite reading fare of her childhood, an experience that highly influenced her to write in Hiligaynon. She also revealed she writes in Hiligaynon “because it is my gut language.”Other than short stories, she also writes drama and binalaybay. She has been a recipient of writing grants from the Cultural Center of the Philippines for short story writing (1990), for novels (1991), for drama (1994), and for children’s drama (1995).
She also won 2nd place for writing a binalaybay sponsored by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Her first short story in Hiligaynon won 3rd place in the Yuhum Magazine Short Story Competition in December 1988.
Prof. Gonzales won a total of seven Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature (Short Story in Hiligaynon), the most prestigious literary award in the country. She won her first Palanca in 1997, a two-fold feat for her two entries, “Mga Luha Para kay Tatay Jose” (Tears for My Father Jose) and “Isa ka Pungpong nga Rosas” (A Bunch of Roses) that won 2nd and 3rd places, respectively. Her 3rd Palanca was for her story “Ang Likum sang Isla San Miguel (1st Place) in 1999. In 2002, she won 1st place again with “Sa Taguangkan sang Duta” (In the Womb of the Earth) followed by another 1st place win for “Esperanza” in 2003. “Esperanza” is based on a research material on the life of Esperanza Villanueva of Lapaz, Iloilo, a heroine in the Second World War. The 6th Palanca was for “Dawata Anak” that won 2nd place in 2008 and the 7th for “Baha” (2nd place) in 2009.
All the stories are set in West Visayas (Iloilo and Negros) and articulate the varied experiences of ordinary individuals, some of whom live small, insignificant lives tied to the land and some threatened by dislocation. Other characters were culled from West Visayan history – women characters straining to have their voices heard.
The word “taguangkan” (womb) in the lead story of the book is symbolic of the act of conceiving and birthing a literary piece or pieces, born out of the writer’s imagination and contextualized in the physical, sociological, and cultural realities of West Visayas.
The collection of short stories is, according to Prof. Gonzales, her answer to the demoralizing opinion expressed by some from the metropolitan center that writing in the regional languages is dying . It is her hope that this small collection would impel a rush of literary activity and publication among talented Hiligaynon writers in the region, some of whom, she said, are hiding in the shadows of “unpublishedness” and anonymity.
Copies of her book are available at the UPV Office of Culture and the Arts, Iloilo City campus, with telephone number (033) 337-9159.
