The Nagkahiusang Magsusulat sa Cagayan de Oro (NAGMAC), a young artists collective of poets, essayists, fictionists, playwrights, screenwriters, editors, and translators from Northern Mindanao, in partnership with writers network Libulan Queer Collective and the Xavier Center for Culture and the Arts (XCCA), is now accepting applications to the 2018 Cagayan de Oro Young Writers Studio to be held on October 29 (poetry and drama leg) and October 30 (fiction and creative nonfiction leg) at Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan in Cagayan de Oro City.

Now on its third year, the Cagayan de Oro Young Writers Studio is an annual creative writing fellowship for 12 of the most promising young and “unworkshopped” poets, essayists, fictionists, playwrights, and screenwriters born and/or based in Mindanao.

Entries in Binisaya, (Tagalog-based) Filipino, and/or English of various themes shall be composed of any of the following:

For a Poetry fellowship: 2 poems (written for the page and/or for performance);

For a Fiction fellowship: 1 short story (1500 to 3000 words), or 1 chapter (3000 to 5000 words) from a novel (with synopsis), or 2 works of flash fiction (500 to 1500 words each);

For a Creative Nonfiction & Essay fellowship: 1 creative nonfiction (1500 to 3000 words) such as nonfiction memoir, personal essay, travel writing, lyric essay, literary journalism, or other hybridized forms; or 2 micro-essays or works of flash nonfiction (500 to 1500 words each);

For a Drama fellowship: 1 one-act play, or 1 short screenplay, or 1 ten-minute radio drama script (up to 30 pages).

Applicants may apply for more than one genre. Although there is no thematic preference, queer-themed manuscripts which depict a strong allegiance to a sense of place may qualify for the sole Libulan Queer Fellowship.

The CDO Young Writers Studio will consist of manuscripts critiquing and consultation, craft lectures on writing genres and creative process, mentoring sessions, inputs from alternative press editors and indie publishers, and other parallel writing activities to be facilitated by NAGMAC senior writers such as poets Ben Aguilar and Ton Daposala; spoken word artist Adeva Jane Esparrago; screenwriter and playwright Dennis B Flores; fictionist and essayist Abigail C James; and fictionists Nadine Hendrikka Legaspi and EJ Villena. Poet and essayist Alton Melvar Dapanas serves as the workshop director.

This year, fictionist and playwright R Joseph Dazo of Cebu City, playwright Dominique La Victoria of Cagayan de Oro City, poet and playwright Gil Nambatac of Iligan City, and essayist and poet Ria Valdez of Davao City have been invited as guest panelists. Other local writers are welcome to the event.

Accepted fellows will be provided with certificates, lunch, snacks, and workshop materials. There is no registration fee but accepted fellows will shoulder their own transportation and board & lodging expenses.

Electronic copies, in MS Word format, Times New Roman font 12, of the manuscript may be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the subject Genre_CDOYWS (example: Drama_CDOYWS). The applicant’s name should not appear on the manuscript. On the email’s body, include the following applicant's details: full name, address (in Mindanao), institutional affiliation (workplace and/or school), Facebook URL, mobile number, and a short bionote (150-200 words). A curriculum vitae (CV) should also be attached.

Deadline for submissions is on 16 September 2018, 11:59 PM.

Teachers of junior or senior high school and college Creative Writing/Malikhaing Pagsulat and Creative Nonfiction/Malikhaing Sanaysay subjects who wish to observe the sessions may send in a letter of intent addressed to the workshop director through the same email address on or before 16 September. Slots are limited.

All inquiries from interested partners and sponsors should be coursed through the same email.

The CDO Young Writers Studio aims to be a safe space for new ways of writing where emerging writers are engaged in a dialogue of critical discourse and creative practices situated in and shaped by geopolitics and aesthetics of writings from the southern Philippines, and where these same writers are not subjected to a “promotion of deference and reproduction of hierarchies, but a multiplication of approaches and cultivation of difficult originality” (Veric, 2017).

The impetus and core purpose of Young Writers Studios (in Cagayan de Oro and in Cebu), bringing emerging writers together to share their pieces and develop their craft, contributes to the larger goal of enfolding these young writers, many of whom do not have access to creative writing resources, into the larger community of local writers and indie publishers, and the flourishing local literary scene.∎