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MAYSA NGA INTERVIEW...

Maysa nga upcoming a literary magazine ti nakiinnuman itoy nanumo a biang babaen ti question and answer iti email. Paset kano daytoy ti artikuloda maipapan iti 35 a young new writers iti pagilian. Diak ammo no nairuaren ti nasao a magasin ken no naipablaak ti nasao nga artikulo ken no agpayso a nairamanak kadagiti nadakamat a 35 a mannurat. No kaskasano a dida pay iruar/inruar, a, ket unaak man ida babaen ti panangipablaakkon iti nasao nga interview ditoy.

Ngem pagpasensiaanyon ta English dagiti saludsod isu a napilitanak metten, a, a nagin-i-English! Nupay kaaduanna kadagiti librok ken basbasaek ket iti English, saanak a nalaing nga agingles, dakayo met! Isu a manmano nga agdursokak nga agsurat iti English uray kayatko koma met a padasen. Sumaggaysa la a daniw ti nasuratko pay iti English. Agsursuratak la iti English nga articles idi agtrabahoak iti pagiwanarnak ken idi addaak iti kolehio.

Ala, adtoyen ti interview:

In one paragraph, describe your body of work--its characteristics, influences and usual themes that are present and prominent in your work.

In my fiction I write mainly about the social conditions, the dreams/hopes and struggles/little wars of small and simple/ordinary people like beggars, farmers, workers, peasants; and but of course, I also write light and plain romance or love/angst stories of peoples of any classes. In my poetry, although most of it embody or typify the usual social/cultural/psychological struggles and aspirations of the small/simple or of oppressed/exploited people or personas (be it political or mental), I also dabble on concepts and arguments that are considered taboo or absurd, particularly in Iluko literature, such as sex (like writing the acts/activities and the genitals as they are and as it were without using metaphors, as poetic imageries) and filth (I include/use, for example, feces, phlegm, booger, as images in some of my poems--to the consternation of some purists and traditionalists) and the like.

Who are the major influences in your writing?

I consider Juan SP. Hidalgo, Jr., Ilokano novelist/fictionist/editor/translator and the founder of Gunglo dagiti Mannurat nga Ilokano or GUMIL (Association of Ilokano Writers, founded in 1968), as one major, or probably even the most prominent, influence. It was/is reading/understanding his writings that provoke and stimulate me to write and sometimes, well, even not to write. Hidalgo is considered by the generation of Ilokano writers after him as the "father of modern Iluko short story" and his book "Bituen ti Rosales" (Star of Rosales, an anthology of his short stories) is considered a "literary bible" by young/younger Ilokano writers.

The late Pelagio A. Alcantara, also a prominent, awarded Ilokano writer, is also a major influence in that his stories and the way he styles his prose stirs and motivates me to attempt and endeavor to write at the very least with the same impact, cadence and approach. I also consider Samuel F. Corpuz, another award-winning Ilokano writer, an influence. Others are Tagalog writers/poets Amado Hernandez, Wilfredo Virtusio, Edgardo Reyes, Virgilio Almario, Lualhati Bautista, Jun Cruz Reyes; and Filipino writers in English like F. Sionil Jose, the late Edilberto Tiempo, and Gregorio Brillantes.

Describe your literary beginnings and the individuals who have influenced you to write. Do you carry a guiding principle in your writing? If so, please elaborate.

I began to "write" when I was in grade school where I used to make (write and draw) my own komiks series and the readers were my classmates. I learned to write (my name and the alphabet) at about age 3 and learned to read (and understand what I read) at age 4 or 5. My mother tutored me, there were no preschool classes available in our place during those times, or it was not yet a requirement then for a kid to be accepted in grade one. I read lots of komiks magasin and the Bannawag Magazine (the premier Ilokano magazine) when I was a kid and that enthused me to make my own "komiks." As a child, I used to have this feeling that I want also to write and make my own komiks and Bannawag and be read also and not just stay contented on reading other people's komiks or Bannawag. And I want to maintain that feeling or mood--to write inorder to be read--as still one of the guiding principles why I wrote, why I still write, and continue to write as I believe on the edict that a writer should not write only for himself as a writer and/or as the writer but especially and necessarily for his readers or audience. I write because I want to share what's in me, what do I think and sense and believe and what do I behold and consider. I write about some truths and realities I confirmed and actually experienced and observed/proven from other's experiences/practices to remind someone or those concerned of their responsibilities, social or emotional.

From that background, it is obvious that I learned more about writing from reading itself. I have no formal education on literature or the craft of writing although in later years I began to acquire books on literary criticism and read and study them and try to experiment on some literary theories and devices. My attendance to some literary seminars and workshop conducted by GUMIL and my being chosen as a fellow in the U.P. National Writers Workshop in Baguio in 1996 also helped. But I always consider my continuous reading of books, magazines and other reading materials, and now browsing the Internet, that helped and facilitated greatly in my writing craft and "vocation."

And I want to add that I believe one factor that continually urge or push me to write and to try to become a good, or even better writer, is that I should do so because it is one and only outlet or channel for me to deliver and share, to communicate my ideas and opinions thorough, complete and in full details because I cannot do it comfortably in other means especially through speech or any other oral means as I am in nature a shy and timid, reserved person not used in public speaking and the like.

More on my literary beginnings, I want to disclose that when I seriously consider to write and aspire to become a writer when I was in high school, almost nobody supported me and instead most people discouraged me, especially my own family, as they considered my act of writing as senseless and laziness as sometimes I skip work and food and sleep and even personal hygiene and I escape and hide just to write without distraction (yes, I even climb up trees or make little huts in the bushes to hide and write undisturbed/undistracted!). It was only when some of my writings began to be published in some magazines, notably Bannawag Magazine, that they finally appreciated me and my works and conceded to my ambition.

What are your literary achievements? Please enumerate.

I seriously began writing serious short stories, poetry and feature articles in late 1980s (I wrote and still write in Iluko and sometimes in Filipino) and have my works published primarily in Bannawag Magazine beginning 1991. The publication of my works--passing the strict policies of editors--I consider as an achievement. And being able to write still and write what I want and why I want to and being able at all times sustain and uphold and prove my being a writer also I consider as achievements among others such as also having received some awards and prizes from literary competitions and literary award-giving bodies.

On literary awards, I received the following:

  • Second Prize, Filipino Short Story, 2001 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature
  • Third Prize, Iluko Short Story, 1999 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature
  • First Prize, 1998 Iluko Poetry Writing Contest, Prinsesa Urduja Literary Awards (GUMIL Pangasinan)
  • First Prize, 1995-1996 Iluko Poetry Writing Contest, Constancia V. Lansangan Literary Awards (COVVLA), Isabela/Metro Manila
  • Third Prize, 1996 Iluko Poetry Writing Contest, Gov. Roque Ablan Awards for Iluko Literature (GRAAFIL), Laoag City
  • First Prize, 1996 Iluko Short Story Writing Contest, GUMIL California
  • First Prize, 1996 Iluko Short Story Writing Contest, Dindo Acosta Awards for Iluko Literature (DAMAFIL), San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte
  • First Prize, 1995 Iluko Short Story Writing Contest, Kokua Lima Hawaii No ("Helping Hands from Hawaii"), Hawaii, USA
  • "Ilokano Writer of 1993 Award", Constancia V. Lansangan Literary Awards (COVVLA)
  • First Prize, 1992 Iluko Poetry Writing Contest (Student Category), GRAAFIL
  • Third Prize, 1991 Iluko Poetry Writing Contest, TGT Literary Awards (GUMIL Filipinas)

What are your future literary ambitions?

One of my wishes, much like a dream though, is to write a, if not the, great Iluko novel or epic, great in that it will last and serve its purpose and my purpose of writing it and will become a "classic" to preserve my name and my being a writer, specifically an Ilokano writer, of my generation.

I wish also to continue on my part and my way of promoting and sustaining Iluko literature, and Philippine literature in general, in/on the Web. I might have had some role or duty in putting at least a bit of Iluko literature on the Web by my maintaining a site featuring my Iluko works and also the website of GUMIL online version of its official quarterly, Balikas, but I also aspire to further it by developing it into an e-literature in the true meaning and sense of the word "electronic literature." For what we today call or consider as electronic literature are those encoded text into computer word processors and/or desktop publishers, for example in e-book form. But these are yet composed/written and made and prepared utilizing the traditional forms of literature.

("E-literature" or "electronic literature" is defined as new forms of literature which utilize the capabilities of technology to do things that cannot be done in print. This encompasses a wide range of genres such as Hypertext/Other Interaction, Recorded Reading/Performance, Animated Text , Generated Text, and Reader Collaboration.)

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