March 29, 2024

Bicol Express News

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Art Collective and Writers’ Group to launch Poetry Anthology

Quezon City, Philippines– Various art organizations together with different writers’ groups from NCR, Bicol Region, and other parts of the country will be holding a virtual book launching of the collaborative writing project Life After Dark, a poetry anthology about hope, life, and living.

Organized and presented by the Concerned Artists of the Philippines Bicol Chapter, Rhymes of PEG, SabaDugtungan, SICAD, and Kurit-Lagting Art Collective, the online book launch will be streamed live on facebook on December 17, 2022 at 4:00 PM.

By sending out a call for submissions to various writers who share the same passion about hope and life, the anthology collected poems and prose with themes about freedom, rebuilding, recuperating, release, and becoming unleashed from the chaos in life, reflecting the kind of future they dream of and that everything happens for a reason.

According to Jerraine Ruth Jocutan, member of CAP-Bicol, the aim of this Project is to create a therapeutic and, above all, safe space for the writers to speak about their struggles and experiences about living through and triumphing over life. This collaboration gave us the opportunity to reflect on our lived realities and, in the process, encourage others to break the cycle of despair in their lives.

“We are hoping that these poems will help to generate a feeling of empowerment to face everyday challenges with new hope and a renewed perspective. These poems hope to heal, educate, and inspire those who deal with unkindness, grief, misunderstanding, loss and feeling that they have no value,” said Jessa Erandio, one of the admins of Rhymes of PEG.

“The Writing Project provided us the opportunity to express our innermost thoughts and feelings, including our journey in navigating our collective experiences and how we rose above it, emphasizing that in ourselves and in our communities, there should be a room for hope and resilience,” added Bon Ramniel Morales, member of Sabadugtungan.

“It also aims to inspire people through their words, provide encouragement and simply help anyone who feels like they are alone. This is composed of a hundred creative pieces that speak about hope in different aspects and events in life such as finding love, coping with heartbreak, overcoming pain, fighting for your sanity and getting over grief. This lovely little book is your companion on life’s ups and downs, ” ended Choi Carretero, co-founder of Kurit-Lagting Art Collective.

Life After Dark (Messages of Hope) is currently available on Ukiyoto Publishing stores, Amazon, Google Books and Smashwords.