The UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (UST CCWLS) conducted a whole-day creative and critical writing outreach lecture series on July 27, 2016, at the University of the Cordilleras in Baguio City, for students and faculty members of the region. Facilitated through the office of the University President, Dr. Ray Dean Salvosa, the lecture featured four of the UST CCWLS’s Resident Fellows, who talked about various aspects of creative and critical writing.
Ms. Dawn Laurente Marfil opened the series of lectures by sharing her insights on memoir writing, using as an example her newly-launched book Looking for Polaris: A Memoir of Losing and Finding. UST Publishing House Deputy Director Ma. Ailil B. Alvarez, author of Slivers of the Sky: Catholic Literary Readings and Other Essays, delivered in forty minutes what would usually be a semester’s worth of lecture on literary criticism.
UST Department of Literature Chair Joyce L. Arriola, Ph.D., author of Postmodern Filming of Literature: Sources, Contexts and Adaptations, focused on media studies, its aims, achievements and further aspirations. Cult figure Joselito D. Delos Reyes, author of the best-selling books Titser Pangkalawakan and iStatus Nation, talked about popular culture and the dangers of social media in homogenizing emotions and reactions.
The UST CCWLS Outreach Lecture Series in Baguio City was the Community Development activity of the Center for this year held in conjunction with the UST CCWLS National Writers’ Workshop. The first Outreach Lecture Series was held in UP Baguio in 2014 with UST CCWLS Assistant Director Ralph Semino Galán serving as coordinator, while the second one was held at the University of Baguio in 2015 with Resident Fellow Ina Abuan as coordinator. Resident Fellow Chuckberry J. Pascual, Ph.D., was this year’s coordinator.
