Write Or Die: Writing Non-Fiction feat. Maria Isabel Garcia of “Science Solitaire”

Just in case you’re new to this weblog:

Where Read Or Die promotes reading and a greater awareness of literature–especially Filipino literature–in the Philippines, Write Or Die initiates and supports on projects designed to foster good writing skills in English and in the Philippine languages among both young people and adults. Write Or Die is an advocacy. We believe that writing is an essential aspect of literacy and that writing can transform lives, build communities, and enable individuals to express and find themselves.

The Write Or Die website can be found at http://write-or-die.org.

As for the name – well, we had obviously run out of original ideas. Think Or Die, anyone?

Write Or Die’s launching event is a series of workshops organized with the UP Institute of Creative Writing and Powerbooks to promote the UP Gawad Likhaan (the UP Centennial Literary Awards). The competition is part of the official celebrations of UP’s centennial. There are six awards, each one worth P200,000, for original, book-length works in 3 genres in either English or Filipino: the novel or short story, poetry, and creative nonfiction or sanaysay. Only one prize per genre in either language will be awarded.

There are six awards, each one worth P200,000, for original, book-length works in 3 genres in either English or Filipino: the novel or short story, poetry, and creative nonfiction or sanaysay. Only one prize per genre in either language will be awarded.

The complete rules are available at the UP-ICW office in UP Diliman. They are also available on the UP-ICW website at http://www.upd.edu.ph/~icw and on http://www.panitikan.com.ph, the literary portal hosted by the UP-ICW. Again, more on the prize later.

The workshops—called Writers Write—kicked off with a series on novel writing on November 2007 in Powerbooks and will continue every Saturday until February 2008. Writers Write features some of the best writers in the country. The Fiction series was conducted by award-winning novelists Dean Alfar, Jun Cruz Reyes and Charlson Ong.

We would like to encourage people who are not professional or academe-based writers to attend the workshops and submit their works for consideration to the Gawad Likhaan. Teachers are welcome bring their class members to talks. No reservations are needed.

Writers Write has four areas: Fiction (November 2007-December 2007), Non-Fiction (January 2008), and Poetry (February 2008).

Maria Isabel Garcia, winner of the 2007 National Book Awards for Essay for her groundbreaking book “Science Solitaire” (Ateneo Press) and noted science columnist for the Philippine Star, will kickstart the Non-Fiction series on January 12, 2008 (Saturday) in Powerbooks Greenbelt from 2PM to 4PM.

Please come! Ms. Garcia is one of the most fluent writers I’ve had the pleasure of reading. She’ll be talking about science writing, an interesting and—in the Philippines—a fairly novel genre of creative non-fiction. Science teachers are especially invited to attend and to invite their students along. There’s more to writing about science than dry equations and abstruse observations about the world around you.

Much thanks to Dr. Vim Nadera, Dr. Gemino Abad, Professor Joey Baquiran and Ms. Amy Colanta of the UP Institute of Creative Writing for supporting this endeavor. We’d also like to acknowledge our sponsors Powerbooks and WikiPilipinas for their generous help. Watch out for Writers Write updates in this space!