2010 SEA Write Award

The SEA Write 2010 award will take place at the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok on November 5, with HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn presiding at the awards dinner and presentation ceremony.

As usual, a prominent writer has been invited as the keynote speaker. Taking his place at the podium this year will be Scottish writer Willam Dalrymple, a multiple-award winning historian and travel writer, as well as a distinguished broadcaster, critic, art historian, foreign correspondent and co-director of Asia's largest literary festival.

A Cambridge history graduate, Dalrymple has lived in Delhi on and off for the last 25 years. His interests include India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Middle East, Mughal rule, the Muslim world, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Jains and early Eastern Christianity. All of his six books have won major literary prizes, as have his radio and television documentaries. His first three were travel books based on his journeys in the Middle East, India and Central Asia.

More recently, Dalrymple has published a book of essays about South Asia, and two award winning histories of the interaction between the British and the Mughals between the 18th and mid-19th centuries.

He is a regular contributor to "The New York Review of Books", The Guardian, The New Statesman, The New Yorker and Time magazine.

His latest book, Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India, was published by Bloomsbury, and went to the No. 1 slot in the Indian non-fiction section best-seller list.

He is now beginning work on a history of the First Afghan War (1839 to 1842), and curating a major show of the late Mughal and Company School painting of Delhi for the Asia Society in New York, set to open in January 2012.

The winners of the 2010 SEA Write award who will be feted at the awards dinner are:

- WIJAYA - BRUNEI

Wijaya is the pen name of Yang Berhormat Pehin Jawatan Dalam Seri Maharaja Dato Seri Utama Dr Haji Awang Mohd. Jamil Al-Sufri bin Begawan Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Seri Paduka Haji Awang Umar.

Yang Berhormat Pehin is a prominent figure in the fields of education, literature, history, culture and religion in Brunei Darussalam. He started writing in the '40s and is interested in history, literature, language, culture and education. He has produced few books in many fields. Renungan is Yang Berhormat Pehin's first anthology of poems.

- AFRIZAL MALNA - INDONESIA

Malna grew to be a poet and cultural worker, dedicated in his arts. He has participated in many collaborative avant-garde arts and performance. His main domain, however, is poetry. In the '80s he was known as the proponent of "dark" poetry, a term used to describe the complex and innovative style of his art.

- DARA KANLAYA - LAOS

Douangchampa is the pen name of Dara Kanlaya, 72, author of some 60 short stories, over 90 poems, seven novels, and a two-hour play, Boua Deng. Dara started her career as a schoolteacher and began her writing in 1958. Now retired, she keeps writing and publishing children's books, novels and poetry. Dara's writing theme mostly deals with women's issues and gender, and promotes a better living standard for women through education. She also works as curator of old palm-leaf manuscripts, and studies classic Lao literature.

- ZAEN KASTURI - MALAYSIA

Zaen writes in various genres, including Yuda (a collection of short stories), Katarsis and Iga (collections of poems), and Angin Belantara (novel). Zaen is currently the new voice in the local literary scene who gives life to a fast forgotten, easily ignored discipline (literature).

- MARJORIE EVASCO - THE PHILIPPINES

Evasco's published works in poetry and biography are included in the canon of Philippine Literature. The Manila Critics Circle gave National Book Awards to all her five books: Dreamweavers; Ochre Tones: Poems in English and Cebuano; Six Women Poets: Inter/Views; A Life Shaped by Music; and Ani: The Life & Art of Hermogena Borja Lungay (2006).

- JOHAR BIN BUANG - SINGAPORE

Known by his pseudonym, H.B. Johar, attributes his interest and inspiration to write Sufic poems in the early '80s to his religious teacher, Syekh Muhammad Thaha Al-Muhammadi, who prayed for him.

- ZAKARIYA AMATAYA - THAILAND

Zakariya was born in Narathiwat province. He then spent five years in central India studying Islamic Sciences, Arabic Language and Literature at Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama College before returning home to study Comparative Religion at Mahidol University.

He initially discovered his passion for poetry during his years in India. During his junior year, his writing on free verse poetry had started to flourish when he took courses in Classic, Mediaeval and Contemporary Arabic Literature. Zakariya wanted to become a "bridge" between different cultures and languages.

- NGUYEN NGAT ANH - VIETNAM

Nguyen Nhat Anh is a Vietnamese author of incisive stories for both teenagers and adults. He is also a teacher, a poet and a journalist. He is regarded as one of the most successful writers for teens. His most well known novel, Kinh van hoa (Kaleidoscope), which contains 54 volumes, has recently been made into four drama series of the same name.

GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR TP's BANAAG AT SIKAT

INSTRUCTIONS:

Your reaction must be computer-printed on short bond paper using 12-point font (Times New Roman) with 1 and 1/2 spacing for better readability.

The more profound and well thought out your answers to the questions, the better the score.

Answer each of the following in two to three paragraphs.

1. In terms of both form and content, rate the overall performance of Tanghalang Pilipino's rendition of Lope K. Santos' Banaag at Sikat from 1 to 10 (10 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest). Explain the reasons for your assessment.

2. Using Nicanor G. Tiongson's criteria in determining the Philippine-ness of a particular dramatic form/presentation: [1.)that it reflects the Filipinos' culture,2.) that it answers the need of the Filipinos at a given time, and 3.) that it works for the good of the many], how Filipino is Tanghalang Pilipino's Banaag at Sikat? Elaborate on your answer based on what you have learned in class regarding Philippine drama.

3. How does the rock musical Banaag at Sikat depict the class struggles between the rich and the poor? With whom do you empathize?

GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR TP's AMERICAN HWANGAP

INSTRUCTIONS:

Your reaction must be computer-printed on short bond paper using 12-point font (Times New Roman) with 1 and 1/2 spacing for better readability.

The more profound and well thought out your answers to the questions, the better the score.

Answer each of the following in two to three paragraphs.

1. In terms of both form and content, rate the overall performance of Tanghalang Pilipino's rendition of Lloyd Suh's American Hwangap from 1 to 10 (10 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest). Explain the reasons for your assessment.

2. Using Nicanor G. Tiongson's criteria in determining the Philippine-ness of a particular dramatic form/presentation: [1.)that it reflects the Filipinos' culture,2.) that it answers the need of the Filipinos at a given time, and 3.) that it works for the good of the many], how Filipino is Tanghalang Pilipino's American Hwangap? Elaborate on your answer based on what you have learned in class regarding Philippine drama.

3. What lessons in life or insights regarding the human condition can you glean from Lloyd Suh's American Hwangap as performed by Tanghalang Pilipino?

GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR PETA's ANG POST OFFICE/ THE POST OFFICE

INSTRUCTIONS:

Your reaction must be computer-printed on short bond paper using 12-point font (Times New Roman) with 1 and 1/2 spacing for better readability.

The more profound and well thought out your answers to the questions, the better the score.

Answer each of the following in two to three paragraphs.

1. In terms of both form and content, rate the overall performance of the Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) in their rendition of Rabindranath Tagore's Ang Post Office (The Post Office) from 1 to 10 (10 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest). Explain the reasons for your assessment.

2. Using Nicanor G. Tiongson's criteria in determining the Philippine-ness of a particular dramatic form/presentation: [1.)that it reflects the Filipinos' culture,2.) that it answers the need of the Filipinos at a given time, and 3.) that it works for the good of the many], how Filipino is PETA's Ang Post Office (The Post Office)? Elaborate on your answer based on what you have learned in class regarding Philippine drama.

3. What lessons in life or insights regarding the human condition can you glean from Ang Post Office (The Post Office), a short play for children written by the first Asian wordsmith who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913?

GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR BM's HALO-HALO NI JUAN

INSTRUCTIONS:

Your reaction must be computer-printed on short bond paper using 12-point font (Times New Roman) with 1 and 1/2 spacing for better readability.

The more profound and well thought out your answers to the questions, the better the score. (Read my dance review of Ballet Philippines' Shoes++ to get some ideas on how to write a critical analysis on a dance performance.)

Please edit your paper so that it will merit a higher grade.

Answer each of the following in two to three paragraphs.


1. Rate the overall performance of Ballet Manila in their 15th Year Anniversary Crystal Gala titled Halo-Halo ni Juan from 1 to 10 (10 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest). Explain the reasons for your assessment.

2. Among the various dance vignettes of Ballet Manila's Halo-Halo ni Juan, which one (give the title of the dance number) did you enjoy the most and why?

3. Between classical/neoclassical ballet and modern/contemporary dance, which do you prefer? Give the title/s of the dance vignette/s that caught your attention in explaining your choice.

GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR BP's SEPTEMBER GALA

INSTRUCTIONS:

Your reaction must be computer-printed on short bond paper using 12-point font (Times New Roman) with 1 and 1/2 spacing for better readability.

The more profound and well thought out your answers to the questions, the better the score. (Read my dance review of Ballet Philippines' Shoes++ to get some ideas on how to write a critical analysis on a dance performance.)

Please edit your paper so that it will merit a higher grade.

Answer each of the following in two to three paragraphs.


1. Rate the overall performance of Ballet Philippines from 1 to 10 (10 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest). Explain the reasons for your assessment.

2. Among the various dance vignettes of Ballet Philippines' September Gala, which one (give the title of the dance number) did you enjoy the most and why?

3. According to Susan Sontag, the dancer is the most self-demanding of performing artists since Terpsichore's devotee aims for nothing less than perfection. Which of the dance vignettes (give the title of the dance number) embody this desire to transcend the limits of the human body? Explain your choice.

Poems to be discussed next meeting (August 31, 2010) in my British Literature class...

Sonnet 75
Edmund Spenser

One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
But came the waves and washèd it away;
Again I wrote it with a second hand
But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
“Vain man”, said she, “that dost in vain assay,
A mortal thing so to immortalise,
For I myself shall like to this decay,
And eke my name be wipèd out likewise”.
“Not so”, quod I, “let baser things devise
To die in dust, but you shall live by fame;
My verse your virtues rare shall eternise,
And in the heavens write your glorious name.
Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,
Our love shall live, and later life renew”.



Even Such is Time
Sir Walter Raleigh

Even such is Time, which takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, and all we have,
And pays us but with age and dust;
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days.
But from which earth and grave and dust
The Lord shall raise me up, I trust.



The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
Christopher Marlowe

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.

The shepherd’s swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.