Filipina poet wins 2015 Resurgence Poetry Prize

Filipina poet wins 2015 Resurgence Poetry Prize

LUISA A. IGLORIA (Photo courtesy of thefilipinochronicle.com)

MULTI-awarded Filipina poet Luisa A. Igloria won the 2015 Resurgence Poetry Prize, the world’s first major award for “ecopoetry,” the Hawaii-based Filipino Chronicle reported. Ecopotery is defined as contemporary poetry with a strong ecological emphasis.

Igloria’s winning entry, Auguries, which was read at the Leighton House Museum in London on Dec. 14, 2015, reportedly moved the judges for its “authenticity, intensity and cohesion.” In the words of the Sir Andrew Motion, chair of the judicial panel. The award came with a monetary prize of $7,400.

Founded in 2014, the Resurgence Poetry Prize reflects the founders’ shared passion for and commitment to poems that investigate and challenge the interrelationship between nature and human culture. The competition was launched to foster the role that poetry can play in providing insight, raising awareness and provoking concern for the ecological imperative of the times.

Carolyn Hildebrand, in her article for Filipino Chronicle, writes about the winning poet:

“Igloria is no stranger to awards and recognitions at the highest levels. She graduated cum laude from the University of the Philippines-Baguio with a bachelor’s (humanities major in comparative literature). She earned her master’s in literature at Ateneo de Manila as a Robert Southwell fellow and her Ph.D. in English and creative writing at the University of Illinois- Chicago as a Fullbright Fellow.

In the Philippines, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature based on numerous awards she won in poetry, nonfiction and short fiction genres. The Chicago-based Poetry Foundation lists her numerous honors including poetry prizes, residencies, seminars and international retreats for writers.

Hawaii also recognized her in 1996 when the University of Hawaii-Manoa Center for Philippine Studies invited her as a Visiting Humanities Scholar. She is a tenured professor of English and creative writing at Old Dominion University where she also served as director of the MFA Creative Writing Program from 2009-2015.”

Igloria shared her thoughts on her latest award and winning poem. She told Filipino Chonicle’a Hildebrand:

“The Resurgence Poetry Prize is the world’s first prize for ecopoetry, which makes it not only special but urgently relevant in the context of all we are experiencing in the global environment. I am of course thrilled beyond words that the distinguished panel of judges (headed by no less than former UK Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion, with members who are also some of the most respected names in contemporary British poetry—Jo Shapcott and Alice Oswald) found my poem to be the most meritorious.

“It was an honor to meet the judges as well as key personae who are members of the Resurgence Trust and/or count themselves as Prize Founders—environmentalist, former Jain monk and publisher Satish Kumar, environmentalist and entrepreneur Sir Peter Phelps and British actress Joanna Lumley.

“It was truly special to be named the inaugural winner of this prize and for me to be able to fly to London with my husband and youngest daughter to attend the program. Two friends—my co-blogger via ViaNegativa, himself a poet and publisher, Dave Bonta; and his British partner, former BBC journalist Rachel Rawlins, were also with us.”

Hildebrand also notes how Igloria brings her traditional Filipino environmental values to her winning poem:

“I always find it difficult to “explain” my own work—but about “Auguries,” the winning poem, I guess I could say that it is a kind of lyric elegy mourning a world that seems to be passing away. I was raised in Baguio in a mostly Ilocano household that had a strong awareness of animistic beliefs. We practiced atang, for instance—putting aside small offerings of food and drinks for the spirits of our loved ones who are departed; and I was taught not to indiscriminately trample on or pull up plants in the backyard because spirits might live there,” she tells Hawaiian Chronicle.

“In our contemporary world, many might feel uncomfortable with such ideas. And unlike in my childhood, our modern environment seems so full of dangers and risks that we don’t want to expose our children (or even ourselves) to.
“While my poem expresses sadness at such things, at the same time, I like to think that there is hopeful sentiment there too—with all the very real effects we are experiencing owing to climate change. As I said in a few remarks at the program, our dearest hope is for our children to have a viable world to inhabit in the future.” (MAG)