At the third Dumaguete Literary Festival from April 17 to 19, award-winning poet Merlie Alunan urged young writers to produce and read literature in their own languages. The event also marked Dumaguete's designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Literature.
The third edition of the Dumaguete Literary Festival, titled “Becoming,” saw veteran poet Merlie Alunan challenge the idea that works from outside Manila are merely “regional.” “Regional is national. Cebuano writing is not regional writing. It’s national writing because Cebuano is a culture by itself and part of Filipino culture,” she said during a panel on creative non-fiction on April 18.
Alunan, 82, began writing poetry in the 1980s and struggled to get published as the industry centered in Manila. She has won six Palanca Awards for Poetry in English and one for the Cebuano short story “Pamato” in 2007. She urged: “You must be producing your own poetry in your own home ground. Let’s push for writing in our own language and push for kids, young people, to read literature produced in our own language.”
Rica Bolipata-Santos of Ateneo de Manila University Press called for strengthening Dumaguete's literary ecosystem. Rolin Migyuel Obina of Bais City said the new Negros Island Region would unite literary communities as allies.
The festival celebrated Dumaguete's UNESCO Creative City of Literature status, the second in Southeast Asia after Jakarta. Ivan Henares presented the plaque to Mayor Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagarbarria and Governor Manuel “Chaco” Sagarbarria. Director Ian Rosales Casocot noted it started with a simple coffee meeting in December 2024.