On its third year of celebrating Philippine literature and the country’s erudite giants in the said field, the National Commission for Culture amd the Arts (NCCA) together with the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF), and the National Book Development Board (NBDB) line up events and seminars around the archipelago highlighting the transformative power of literature.
Themed as “Banyuhay” which literally translates to ‘metamorphosis’, this year’s celebration of the National Literature Month emphasises that “literature, a creative endeavour, is also a political and social institution as well as a force that shapes life and everyday living.” With the National Youth Commission (NYC) chairperson Aiza Seguerra at the helm of the festivities, the literature month features exciting literary and cultural events for the whole month of April not only in Metro Manila but also in several provinces to effectively touch grassroot communities and promote further local literature.
NCCA Chairman Virgilio Almario during the press conference discussed the plans for the celebration together with the festival’s chairperson and Atty. Katarina Rodriguez of the National Book Development Board. “It is unfortunate that only few know our own local literature.,” Almario said. “The NCCA is doing this endeavour not only to pay tribute to our country’s literary giants but to try shifting the consciousness of the young generation towards these ‘heroes’ who are worth immortalising through monuments and literary reorientations.”
NYC Chairperson and National Literature Month chair Aiza Seguerra, NCCA Chairman Virgilio Almario, a nd Atty. Katarina Rodriguez of NBDB
National Literature Month will kick off the celebration of Francisco “Balagtas” Baltazar Day on April 2, which marks the artist’s 229th birth anniversary. The celebration will kick-off with the Pambansang Kampong Balagtas 2017, a literary conference that will gather 100 student-writers from all over the Philippines. It will be held from March 31 to April 2 at the Orion Elementary School in Orion, Bataan. The annual Gawad Dangal ni Balagtas and Talaang Ginto: Makata ng Taon will also be held as culmination of the said conference.
Moreover, there will also be commemorations for Emilio Jacinto, another literary artist-hero during the Spanish colonial period, spoken word poetry performances, the National Writers Congress, and a series of workshops tackling various genres, forms, and languages. NBDB also invites artists and authors to attend their seminar about the importance of intellectual property law and its facets.
The National Literature Month begins on March 31 and will be formally closed on April 29.