Writing UP Here : UPWC @ 81!

Turn Write Lecture Series

UP Writers Club

invites you to

Turn Write:
A Lecture Series on New Genres in Philippine Writing

July 16 Chic Literature by Andrea Pasion, Author of Have Baby, Will Date

July 23 Graphic Novel by Carlo Vergara, Author of Ang Kagila-gilalas na Pakikipagsapalaran ni ZsaZsa Zaturnah

July 30 Horror Writing by Yvette Tan, fictionist and Palanca Award winning writer

All lectures will be held at Rm. 508 of the College of Arts and Letters, from 2:30 to 4:00 pm.

Duties

It is every mother’s duty to tell her daughter that she is beautiful,
and if this is impossible, she has to make her daughter beautiful

because mothers shouldn’t lie, and so my mother would
scrub my high-noon-sun-kissed skin twice a day with liquid

whitening soap she bought from an officemate who had a sister
working in some Asian country doing God-knows-what.

She would rub the rough loofah against my nape, my fragile back,
my kiddy arms and legs, paying extra attention to my frail elbows

and my strong knees the way she would polish my father’s
bowling trophies and medals with toothpaste every weekend.

And I say my knees are strong for my grandmother had a habit
of feeding me duck fetus, which my mother vehemently disagreed with

because of my asthma and too much of it gave me rashes, and how could she
rid my skin of dirt and color if she couldn’t scour me like the bottom

of a frying pan every time she would give me a bath? My grandmother
would retort by saying that it’s better to have sensitive skin than sensitive bones.

Of course, my mother would always have the last word. I was, after all, hers.
I turned out okay, I guess, the asthma and animal-abortion-induced rashes

already gone, for I can smoke more than half a pack of cigarettes a day,
eat pretty much whatever the hell I want to eat (including things

that are actually non-consumable) and not be rushed to the hospital
where my life started and is probably bound to end. For now I am as healthy

as healthy people are until their bodies betray them in other ways, like the lips
locking with the lips of someone else’s lover, like a tongue failing to tell a lie.

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sarah “surot” matias recently graduated cum laude from the up college of arts and letters with a bachelor in creative writing. she is currently a freelance writer with a day job, just like how she expected her life would be until the day she hits the motherload and becomes a filthy rich writer who doesn’t need a day job.

Join the UP Writers Club’s Summer Writing Workshop!

The workshop’s going to be held from May 26-30, 9-5pm everyday at the College of Arts and Letters, UP Diliman. You’ll get to explore such genres as Sudden Fiction, SciFi/Fantasy, Creative Non-Fiction/Online Writing, Poetry, and Comic Book Writing/Screenplay Writing.

The workshop fee is Php 3,500 and is inclusive of lunch and snacks, workshop kit and compilation of readings. Registration is open to all high school students, and is limited, so reserve a slot now!

To do so, send your

1.) Full name,

2.) Age,

3.) Cellphone and home number,

4.) Email,

5.) School

6.) Favorite author and book, and

7.) Favorite writing genre.

to lookingforwally@gmail.com or through SMS to 0921 459 0514 or 0927 443 2092.

See you guys there!

The Fat Lady of the Circus

_{by April Agustin and Leica Chang
Illustration by Adam David
From The Literary Apprentice Lite 2006 (c)}