Gala Night Program.p65 - Silliman University

Xi, a veteran in writers’ workshops, as guest
panelist. This year, we have expanded to two Asian
guests from Singapore: one, a young Singaporean
student—Jasmine Teh—as writing fellow, and the
other, her mentor, Dr. Kirpal Singh, a notable
Singaporean writer and another veteran in writers’
workshops, as guest panelist in the last week of the
workshop. The National Writers Workshop is a
three-week workshop—the longest writing
workshop in the Philippines.
This is one of the highlights in the workshop
calendar for May 2011. Another highlight is the
Gala and Awarding Ceremonies tonight at the
Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium, when
institutions and persons who have supported and
contributed to the development and growth of the
National Writers Workshop will be recognized.
Amazingly, there seems to be an
inexplicable convergence of circumstances, a
happenstance that can make one superstitious (or
one think that this augurs successful fruitful
ventures in the future): this is the visit to Silliman
on the last days of the workshop by Prof. Robin
Hemley, director of the Non-fiction Program at the
University of Iowa, who is visiting with twenty
students.
Why this convergence of circumstances?
Why now at this threshold of the next fifty or more
years of the Workshop’s existence, when there is a
lot of wondering as to what would happen next,
some dreaming or envisioning?
We see that what started as a seed in 1961,
and followed by a vision in 2010, are now realities
in 2011. Let me end with this thought: dreams and
visions are the stuff realities are made of.
Dr. Evelyn F. Mascuñana
Chair, Department of English and Literature