PEN vows combat vs climate change
Writers commit to use power of the pen to save the environment By: Dexter R. Matilla What do you get when you gather poets, playwrights, essayists and novelists in one room to tackle the issue of climate change? You get words, lots of eloquent words. Most of the words that overflowed during the 54th National Congress of the Philippine Center of the International PEN (Poets and Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) were expectedly foreboding, of course. But the sense of portent was balanced by words of optimism, such as "survival." In fact, the conference tried to balance pessimism with optimism. It was not for nothing that the theme of the congress was "Archipelagic Feasts, Tropical Disasters: The Literature of Survival." Read more ...