THE TOPIC/theme of the contest is: “WHAT I LEARNED FROM PETER SOLIS NERY”.
Iba-iba ang pagkakilala ninyo sa akin: writer, filmmaker, teacher, nurse, globetrotter, friend, online provocateur, lover(?), Ilonggo, living legend, sex guru, pokpok, literature advocate, Champion of the Hiligaynon language, boldstar.
If you want to enter the competition, read the rest of the guidelines and rules in the previous post.
Deadline: August 15. Submission: August 10-15.
Email address to use: 500tinaga@gmail.com
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It does not matter how you know me, or how you perceive me. Walang masamang tinapay sa akin. Good or bad, publicity is JUST publicity.
Pero I am at that stage of integration in my life.
The pandemic made me panic, and confront, my own mortality.
Now, I want to know that I somehow mattered beyond my own family circle, and my close community of friends.
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Marami akong reputacion, iba-iba. Hindi lahat flattering. But I embrace them all as facets of the diamond that I am.
I have been crowned the determiner ‘the’ as in “The Peter Solis Nery or ThePSN of Philippine Literature”. I have been called “The Living Ilonggo Legend”, “The Champion of Hiligaynon”, “The Bad Boy of Philippine Literature”.
For decades, I have been described as “the premier agent provocateur” of Iloilo and Western Visayas; and lately, as “the Sturm und Drang of Philippine Literature” because of my wild and emotional struggle against the literary establishment.
(Kayo ba naman ang Palanca Hall of Famer, Centennial Literary Prize winner, at First Filipino Author na guest sa Sharjah International Book Fair na i-exclude s a CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Arts, kacalma lang kayo?
In a way, ito rin ang dahilan ng vanity ko. Dahil I’m usually excluded, I want to create my own legacy. I will not be ignored.
Que se jodang magmukhang copycat lang ako ng mga hubadero at hos sa social media.)
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But by living fully, creatively, flippantly happy, I tried to be an inspiration. I even went to social media to achieve such goal. I want to know now if that came across somehow.
So, if my literary Foundation is awarding a prize for essay writing, why not this topic?
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Even if you only knew me through social media, I hope that I have affected you somehow. Positively or negatively, it doesn’t really matter. For as long as you learned something from me about Life and survival in our new century. I mean, Write about that!
In the anthology “WE BEGIN IN AWE: Close Encounters with the PSN Corpus” (KDP: 2020), 24 writers wrote 36 personal and critical essays about their experience of my literary works, and ultimately, their perception of me. Kaya hindi po bago ang topic o theme natin; may history at pinaghuhugutan na ito.
Unfortunately para sa kanila, and fortunately for you, ineligible/inadmissible o hindi na po valid ang mga PUBLISHED essays nila. Kung gusto nilang sumali at manalo, they need to write new essays.
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Marami po ang possibilities ng topic. Kahit pa hindi ninyo ako nakaharap o nakadaupang-palad sa tunay na buhay.
That’s why I’m confident about it. And I’m confident that you can write about it, if you give your heart to it.
Sa mga ngayon pa lang nakarining ng pangalan ko, I offer you ample opportunities: Check out my website, petersolisnery.com
The website is a treasure trove of materials for your essays… kung marunong kang maghanap. I mean, nandoon ang biography ko (na hango yata sa Wikipedia entry under “Peter Solis Nery”), may mga personality profiles and blog entries, may mga stories and poems, may mga news clippings, may patungkol sa mga advocacies ko.
Naroon din for FREE READING ang “Heart of My Youth”, which is definitely a goldmine kung kailangan mo ng magandang introduction sa kung sino ako bago ako naging pokpok. Haha.
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Itaas natin ang stakes ng contest na ito. This could be the LAST competitive writing category of the Peter’s Prize this year—our big, bongga 10th anniversary.
At dahil kilala na ang vanity ko, malamang na ang mga entries sa contest na ito ang unang ipapublish natin as A BOOK. Anthology of Essays, ganern!
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On the way to my 50th birthday, I collected 50 portraits of me by various artists. May oil, acrylic, watercolor, charcoal, photography, chibi, caricature, mud, coffee, pen and ink, sculptures—iba-ibang style, iba-ibang medium, pero all Peter Solis Nery.
Hindi lahat maganda (sa subjective opinion ko), but if that’s how people/artists perceive me, wala akong magagawa. I embraced all the portraits, and it made me a better person today than I was when I was 49.
Ganoon din ang hopes ko for this essay contest: hindi kailangang bolahin ninyo ako, hindi kailangang all-positive ang isusulat ninyo tungkol sa akin. (Hindi naman ako snowflake. Vain lang ako, pero hindi insecure. Haha!)
Ang importante lang talaga, maayos at maganda ang PAGKASULAT ninyo ng mga piezas ninyo. After all, this is still a LITERARY CONTEST.
Make it, write it, like real art. An essay that will be timeless, beautiful, and a joy forever.
—Yeah, you are welcome!/PN
