Gala Night Program.p65 - Silliman University

The National Writers Workshop
in Dumaguete is the oldest
creative writing program in
Asia. The Workshop has been directed
for the past 50 years by National Artist
for Literature Dr. Edith L. Tiempo,
along with her husband and
Workshop founder, the late Dr.
Edilberto K. Tiempo. In 2009, Dr. Edith
Tiempo was named Director Emeritus
of the National Writers Workshop,
now known as the Silliman University
National Writers Workshop.
The Silliman University National Writers
Workshop is the only three-week long writers
workshop in the country, devoted to helping
writers hone their craft in the genres of poetry,
fiction, nonfiction, and drama. As the longest
running among the nation’s writing workshops, the
Silliman Workshop has trained several generations
of writers, many of whom are now influencing the
shape, direction, and development of Philippine
literature. Over six hundred young writers have
received the workshop fellowships, which are open
for annual competitions. Many of these writers
have won major prizes in the Don Carlos Palanca
Literary Awards, the Philippine Graphic Literary
Contest, and the Philippines Free Press Literary
About the Workshop
Contest, among others. With the workshop’s
integrity and tradition over the years, it has become
a rite of passage for the country’s finest writers.
Apart from Silliman University, over the
years the Workshop has received support from the
Ford Foundation, the National Commission for
Culture and the Arts (NCCA), the CAP Family of
Companies, the Creative Writing Foundation, the
Dumaguete Literary Arts (DuLA) Group, and
various cultural institutes based in the United States
ad Europe.
Last 2010 marked a milestone in the
development of Philippine literature and the
writing craft, as the Silliman University National
Writers Workshop, headed by its first Director-in-
Residence Dr. Rowena Tiempo-Torrevillas and the
visionary Dr. Ben S. Malayang III, University
President, first invited a writer beyond the
Philippines to sit in as a guest panelist for a week
to enrich the workshop by infusing Asian
consciousness. The first international guest writer
was Hong Kong’s Xu Xi. For 2011, it is Singapore’s
Kirpal Singh.
Also in 2010, Silliman University welcomed
the panelists, writing fellows, workshop alumni,
and guests to the Writers Village at Camp Lookout,
Valencia; its realization made possible through
generous hearts.