Local writers’ group holds prose workshop

The Nagkahiusang Magsusulat sa Cagayan de Oro (Nagmac), in partnership with the Xavier Center for Culture and the Arts (XCCA) and with support from Little Me Academy, organized the fiction/nonfiction prose leg of the 2017 Cagayan de Oro Young Writers’ Studio at Museo de Oro, Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan.

Paneled by Nagmac’s resident essayists and fictionists—Abigail C James, EJ Villena, and Raymond Ybañez, with Cebu-based fictionist-editor R Joseph Dazo as guest panelist and poet, essayist, and editor Alton Melvar Dapanas as workshop director—seven fiction and nonfiction fellowships were given to aspiring writers based on the potentiality of the manuscripts they have submitted.

The fiction and nonfiction fellows were Sarah Suzanne A Alcantara (Liceo de Cagayan University – Senior High School), Nicole Rose Baculio (Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan), Lovely May G Engracial (Dalipuga National High School, Iligan), Kathleen May Garces (Liceo de Cagayan University – Senior High School), Daphne Anne P Martinez (University of Science & Technology of the Southern Philippines), Azelea Coleen C Salcedo (University of the Philippines – Diliman), and Faizel N Usaraga (Liceo de Cagayan University – Senior High School).

The writers’ studio consisted of manuscripts critiquing — “Constructing Dreams: Introduction to Writing Fiction” by Abigail C James and “On the Fourth Genre: Writing Essays and Creative Nonfiction” by Alton Melvar Dapanas—and other parallel exercises and activities. Filmmaker and nonfiction writer Jean Claire Dy also graced the event as a guest lecturer on the writing process. (nagmac)