Luxent Hotel welcomes NJLA 2025

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With its sleek, contemporary glass faΓ§ade, the classic and elegant Luxent Hotel along Timog Avenue in Quezon City is this year’s venue for the much-awaited Nick Joaquin Literary Awards (NJLA).

In a memorandum of agreement signed between the 𝐏𝐑𝐒π₯𝐒𝐩𝐩𝐒𝐧𝐞𝐬 π†π«πšπ©π‘π’πœ and Luxent Hotel, the NJLA 2025 will be held on the 5th floor of the hotel’s Meridian Ballroom on Aug. 28, Thursday, from 5-9 p.m.

Luxent Hotel

National Artists for Literature Ricky Lee and Gemino Abad will lead about 100 short fictionists and poets, as well as luminaries from the cinema, media, academe, and local governments who will grace the affair.

The NJLA is the only Awards for Literature in the Philippines that publishes and posts for posterity outstanding short stories and poetry, making them easily available to readers everywhere for generations to come.

These literary works are published in the π˜—π˜©π˜ͺ𝘭π˜ͺ𝘱𝘱π˜ͺ𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘒𝘱𝘩π˜ͺ𝘀 π˜™π˜¦π˜’π˜₯𝘦𝘳, the companion literary magazine of the 𝐏𝐑𝐒π₯𝐒𝐩𝐩𝐒𝐧𝐞𝐬 π†π«πšπ©π‘π’πœ, and posted on the 𝘎𝘳𝘒𝘱𝘩π˜ͺ𝘀’𝘴 website (https://philippinesgraphic.com.ph) and Facebook page.

Some 75 short fictionists and poets, whose works qualified for publication in the 𝘎𝘳𝘒𝘱𝘩π˜ͺ𝘀 π˜™π˜¦π˜’π˜₯𝘦𝘳, will be honored as π†π«πšπ©π‘π’πœ Salute Awardees for 2025. From this rich harvest of literary gems will be selected the top three winners in the short story category and the Poet of the Year.

NJLA 2025 is made possible with the generous support of Luxent Hotel, BingoPlus, and San Miguel Corporation (SMC).

(𝐒𝐒𝐭𝐭𝐒𝐧𝐠, 𝐋-𝐑) Loida Virtudazo, Executive Vice President-General Manager, π˜—π˜©π˜ͺ𝘭π˜ͺ𝘱𝘱π˜ͺ𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘒𝘱𝘩π˜ͺ𝘀; Psyche Roxas-Mendoza, Editor-in-Chief, π˜—π˜©π˜ͺ𝘭π˜ͺ𝘱𝘱π˜ͺ𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘒𝘱𝘩π˜ͺ𝘀; T. Anthony C. Cabangon, publisher, π˜—π˜©π˜ͺ𝘭π˜ͺ𝘱𝘱π˜ͺ𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘒𝘱𝘩π˜ͺ𝘀 and the π˜‰π˜Άπ˜΄π˜ͺπ˜―π˜¦π˜΄π˜΄π˜”π˜ͺ𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳; Melanie Siy-Pagkalinawan, General Manager-Luxent Hotel; Sharon Deanne Guerrero, Director of Sales and Marketing, Luxent Hotel; and Kaint Interior, Marketing Communications Manager, Luxent Hotel (π’π­πšπ§ππ’π§π , 𝐋-𝐑) Dennis Cruz Guevarra, Advertising Sales Manager, π˜—π˜©π˜ͺ𝘭π˜ͺ𝘱𝘱π˜ͺ𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘒𝘱𝘩π˜ͺ𝘀; Arnie Therese L. Rosell, Account Manager, π˜—π˜©π˜ͺ𝘭π˜ͺ𝘱𝘱π˜ͺ𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘒𝘱𝘩π˜ͺ𝘀; Queenie S. Ostulano, Account Manager, π˜—π˜©π˜ͺ𝘭π˜ͺ𝘱𝘱π˜ͺ𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘒𝘱𝘩π˜ͺ𝘀; Carlo Abalos, Events Manager, π˜—π˜©π˜ͺ𝘭π˜ͺ𝘱𝘱π˜ͺ𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘒𝘱𝘩π˜ͺ𝘀; and Mike Policarpio, Associate Editor, Philippines Graphic and Envoys&Expats Editor, the π˜‰π˜Άπ˜΄π˜ͺπ˜―π˜¦π˜΄π˜΄π˜”π˜ͺ𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳

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Joaquin: In the nick of time

The country’s best writers and cultural institutions paid homage this year to the 100th anniversary of the late National Artist Nick Joaquin. Ironically, had Joaquin been around, he might never have allowed the tributes and accolades given in his honor. Or maybe, he would, but at great discomfort. Said writer Jose β€˜Pete’ Lacaba, β€œSinasabi sa amin ni Nick pag dumadalaw kami sa mga burol β€˜ayaw ko ng mga tribute-tribute. Ibalot niyo na lang ako sa banig, itapon niyo ako sa Pasig River.’ Pero tinatanggap din naman niya pag binigyan siya ng award [Nick would tell us whenever we were in a wake, β€˜I don’t like tributes. Just wrap me in a mat and throw me in the Pasig River. But he still would accept every time he is given an award].”

The World in the time of Nick Joaquin

Europe, the seat of everything that was grand, powerful, and prosperous, was caught in the teeth of the First World War, the year Nicomedes MΓ‘rquez JoaquΓ­n was born on May 4, 1917. It was half a world away from a boy who would emerge half a century later as one of the greatest literary minds in a poor and exploited country still caught in its own, long drawn-out war of independence in 1917.

They who wrote for the Philippines Graphic

β€œOur sense ... of our country is a sustained act of imagination. From that vantage, it can be said that our writers and artists, who are men and women of imagination, create our country (italics mine). That is to say: they evoke those images of ourselves as we live life day and night, those images of ourselves which we share and by which we recognize our nativity. We are our own best interpreters of our history and culture because it is we who have lived through that history and created our own values by which we live.” β€”National Artist for Literature Gemino Abad

Do you still see bloodred dragonflies?

It’s a four-year-old book of poetryβ€”a slim book, all of 90 pages, with 55 poems published in 2022, ready to be read and absorbed. And for English-proficient third-millennium Filipinosβ€”whether aspiring for comfort or already living in easeβ€”the images spun by 16 of the 55 poems hark back to a time beyond their consciousness. That is why Jim Pascual Agustin’s Bloodred Dragonflies can be the metaphorical blood transfusion required to pump poignant, visual, and painful cells of old memory into the veins of the unconcerned and unaware.