BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA – A multi-award Ilongga writer has been elevated to the Palanca Hall of Fame.
Dr. Alice Tan-Gonzales is a professor of English Communication and Literature at the University of the Philippines Visayas in Miag-ao, Iloilo.
This year, she won her fifth Palanca first prize in Short Story – Hiligaynon category for her “Balay sang Monyeka”. This is also her 11th win in the prestigious literary contest.
Tan-Gonzales won her first Palanca in 1997. Two years after, she clinched the top prize for her “Ang Likum Sang Isla San Miguel,” also a short story in Hiligaynon.
“My advice to writers, especially in Hiligaynon, Kiniray-a and Akeanon languages is to keep writing. We have prospect of readership because of the Department of Education’s mother tongue-based education,” Tan-Gonzales told Panay News.
Before, not many read writers in the regional languages, lamented Tan-Gonzales.
“Now we are hoping that this new breed of students educated in the mother tongue will read Hiligaynon and other local languages,” said the Ilongga teacher.
She shared that in 1988, her fellow Palanca Hall of Fame awardee, Dr. Leoncio Deriada encouraged her to write.
Tan-Gonzales was in her “early 30s” that time, according to her.
How important is Palanca Awards to writers like hers?
“It encourages (us). It gives importance to writers in the regional languages. It also helps develop readers,” said Tan-Gonzales.
If there are literary awards like Palanca, it keeps readers interested “in that kind of writing,” said Tan-Gonzales.
Her other first prize entries include “Sa Taguangkan Sang Duta” in 2002, “Esperanza” in 2003 and “Lanton” in 2012.
Tan-Gonzales finished her undergraduate degree at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City.
Then, she took her Master of Arts in Literature and doctorate degree in English Studies from the Ateneo de Manila University and University of the Philippines Diliman, respectively./PN
