1st Manila International Literary Festival gathers acclaimed international, local writers

MANILA, Philippines - “Lit Out Loud” (LOL), Manila’s first international literary festival, was held Nov. 18 to 20 by the National Book Development Board (NBDB) at the Hotel Intercontinental in Makati. According to NBDB chair Dr. Dennis Gonzalez, and NBDB executive director, Andrea Pasion-Flores, judging from the reactions of both participants and guests, it was a great success.

LOL succeeded in gathering the country’s literary luminaries, along with several bestselling and highly acclaimed international writers. Among them were two National Artists for Literature Virgilio Almario and Bienvenido Lumbera, “Slumdog Millionaire” author Vikas Swarup, and young adult novelist Andy Mulligan.

The keynote talk was delivered by prizewinning fictionist and director of UP’s Institute of Creative Writing Jose Dalisay. He was joined by panelists Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, herself an award-wining fictionist/essayist, UP professor emeritus and now director of the UST Publishing House, and by literary scholars Rose Torres Yu and Patricia May Jurilla, also of UP.

Other speakers included such literary giants as Gemino H. Abad, Ricardo de Ungria, Alfred Yuson, Resil Mojares, Merlie Alunan, Marjorie Evasco, Susan Lara, Charlson Ong, Bobby Añonuevo and Vim Nadera; journalists like Lito Zulueta; filmscript writers like Pete Lacaba; Man Asian Literary Prize chair David Parker; and literary agents Mita Kapur and Jayapriya Vasudevan.

During the plenary session on the festival’s first day, everyone was surprised by the intermission numbers provided by tenor Dondi Ong, who emerged from among the seated guests and proceeded to serenade the audience; and poets Gemino Abad, Ralph Galan and Michael Coroza, who moved among the crowd, reciting poems by Edith Tiempo, Rio Alma, Nick Joaquin, and Ophie Dimalanta.

The keynote speech on the novel was delivered by prizewinning novelist Jose Dalisay, and was followed by a panel discussion, on “The Novel,” with Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, Patricia May Jurilla, and Rose Torres-Yu as panelists.

The three-day Festival was packed with discussions topics ranging from literary journalism to graphic literature and emerging literary forms; from intertextuality to plagiarism to writing in the diaspora, with both older and younger writers actively participating. The younger writers included Sarge Lacuesta, Dean Alfar, Carljoe Javier, Angelo Suarez, Vlad Gonzalez, and Tara FT Sering,

Aside from the usual panel discussions, there was a film showing of the hit movie “Slumdog Millionaire” with annotations by its author Vikas Swarup, a cooking demo during the launch of Mita Kapur’s The F-Word, and several literary readings.