Three of the country’s National Artists for Literature will grace this year’s Taboan, a yearly writers’ conference spearheaded by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

National Artists Virgilio Almario, Bienvenido Lumbera, and F. Sionil Jose will join poets, playwrights, fictionists, and novelists from different parts of the country who will converge in Fontana Leisure Park, Clark, Pampanga from February 9 to 11, 2012 for a literary exchange cum book bazaar, and, for the first time in the history of Taboan, a food-and-culture tour.

Almario will serve as the keynote speaker. Taking on the theme, ‘Rizal and the Filipino Imagination,’ he will take a look at Jose Rizal as a writer and cultural icon, and how his writings have influenced Filipino writers and artists across generations.

Lumbera and Jose, on the other hand, will lead the discussion on how literature from Central Luzon reflects the connection between the region’s geography and agricultural production and its long and colorful history.

In the three-day conference, writers from different parts of the country, young and old, will exchange views on various topics including what writers under 35 are doing and thinking and how they see themselves vis-a-vis Rizal and the nation, literary criticism and literary standards, historical fiction (or literature and national memory), writing from the regions, teaching literature, women and writing, writing as a profession, literature and new media, traditional texts in contemporary times, and many more.

Besides the main event in Pampanga, Taboan satellite events will also be held in various parts of the country.

• Panagbenga: Baguio Poetry Reading for Arts Month 2012

• Ilokano Oral Reading Competition in Ilocos Norte

• Edith/Kerima: A Tribute-Exhibit on the Lives & Works of Two Icons of Philippine Literature in UP Diliman

• A jointly-sponsored activity by Taboan 2012 and Ateneo de Manila University

• Pintakasi kan Literaturang Bikolnon: An Ikaduwang Kabtang (Feb 16-17)

• Katig han Sinirangan Bisayas: A writers’ conference and literary performances, Feb 3

• Taboan 2012 Satellite Activity in Tagbilaran, Bohol, Feb. 24

• Performance Poetry in Bacolod City, Feb. 23-24

• A Performance of Traditional Poetry in Central & Northern Mindanao

• Cosechas: A Harvest of Poems and Stories from Western Mindanao, Feb. 18-19

Taboan is one of the seven flagship projects of the NCCA, specifically the National Committee on Literary Arts headed by Dr. Priscila Macansantos, for the Philippine Arts Festival (PAF) which is held every February in celebration of the National Arts Month in pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 683 signed in 1991. NCCA partners with Systems Plus Foundation College, and Clark Development Corporation, our host in Clark. This year’s Taboan Festival Director is Dr. Juliet Mallari.

For schedule and other details, please visit the 2012 Taboan Festival Website.