About the Event
This July 18, 2017, the celebration of the 34th NCBD, in partnership with the Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY), will take place in various venues around the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The event will start at 9:30 AM at the Little Theater Lobby and will be opened by an awarding ceremony of the PBBY-Salanga and Alcala Prize Winners.
The program will be blessed with a welcoming speech of Mr. Chris Millado and a keynote speech by Pepper Roxas, followed by an introduction of new books and a video tribute for the Great Gloria Rodriguez, a one-woman publisher. The awarding ceremony proper will then come after, to be spearheaded by Luis Gatmaitan and Elyrah Salanga, and Totet de Jesus and Boyet Alcala for both the PBBY-Salanga and Alcala prizes, respectively. A storytelling of the PBBY-Salanga winning story will also take place, after which is the opening of the PBBY-Alcala exhibit at the CCP Pasilyo Carlos Francisco.
In the afternoon, there will be activities for children. After a short introduction about the National Children’s Book Day, there will be a storytelling session of Nick Joaquin’s stories for children, which shall be taken care of by Anvil Publishing. Afterwards is a film showing of “Duglit: Dugong Makulit”̶ an animation based on the book of the same title by Dr. Luis Gatmaitan and films from the Animation Council of the Philippines (ACPI) namely “Oli Impan” and “Impeng Negro.” The launching of “My CCP Story” will also transpire, which is a publication for children written by Dr. Gatmaitan as well, and produced by the CCP Arts Education Department, Audience Development Division. A special CCP tour for participating school children will follow shortly.
There will also be a Filipino children’s book fair at the Little Theater from 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM.
The PBBY is a private, non-stock, non-profit organization committed to the development of childen’s literature in the Philippines. It is composed of sectoral representatives from the government and from the field of education, writing, publishing, illustrating, book selling and review, storytelling, research and media. The PBBY has also been the lead agency to celebrate the NCBD, which commemorates the anniversary of the publication of Jose Rizal’s “The Monkey and the Turtle” in Trubner’s Oriental Record in London.
In the observance of the NCBD, the PBBY holds an annual contest finding the best story written for children and the best fitting artwork for the winning story. The PBBY Writers’ Prize was named after Alfredo Navarro Salanga, a journalist, fictionist, poet, and editor, who had contributed much to Philippine literature including co-founding the Philippine Literary Arts Council, the Manila Critics Circle, and the PBBY. The PBBY Illustrator’s Prize, on the other hand, was named after Larry Alcala, who was also a founder of PBBY. His works have reached adults and children, who could not afford more expensive forms of entertainment, through the popular medium of newspapers and Filipino komiks.
For more details, get in touch with Hazel of CCP Intertextual Division at +632-551-5959, +63919-317-5708, or ccpintertextualdivision@gmail.com.