Wila sets workshop on disaster writing

Two-day activity gathers creative non-fiction work

THE Women in Literary Arts-Cebu Inc. (WILA), through a grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, will hold “Women in Disaster” creative non-fiction writing seminar-workshop on Oct. 10 and 11 at St. Mark Hotel, Cebu City.

The workshop gathers creative non-fiction works that deals with women who have experienced or coped with natural disasters.

Fifteen fellows have been selected to the workshop–10 fellows are Wila members and five are not members of the group.

Four of the fellows come from Bohol, Ormoc City and Bukidnon.

The Wila fellows are Ma. Lourdes Alorro, Desiree Balota, Jeneth Borlasa, Erma Cuizon, Ma. Milagros Dumdum, Haidee Emmie Palapar, Shiela Marie Pialago, Gloria Sommers, Lilia Tio and Cindy Velasquez.

The non-Wila fellows are Amelia Bojo from Bukidnon, Nancy CudisUrag from Cebu City, Sonieta Labasan of Bohol, Jennifer Loro of Ormoc City, and Edeliza Macalandag of Bohol.

Seminar is slated in the morning of the first day, where fellows will hear inputs from the speaker on the basic tenets of creative nonfiction, on “fidelity of facts” required by the genre and disaster-writing, on writing on disaster and trauma literature, and on finding the spiritual in disaster.

Speakers who will also critique the submitted works of fellows are experts of creative non- fiction and award-winning writers Dr. Marjorie Evasco, Prof. Susan Lara, Prof. Victor Peñaranda and retired Judge Simeon Dumdum Jr.

The seminar-workshop is one of its kind as it does not only focuses on the relatively new genre of creative non-fiction, but also on writing on disasters.

Wila is the only and longest-running group of women creative writers in the country, which is about to celebrate its silver anniversary in 2016.