2017 Nick Joaquin Literary Awards: Poet of the Year

As if the year weren't wonderful enough with the birth of our silly little boy, Alphonse, I was blessed to receive the Poet of the Year award from The Philippines Graphic Magazine at the 2017 Nick Joaquin Literary Awards. Here we are, giving up on getting a good picture together, since Alphonse decided he was way more interested in the ceiling lights:

It wasn't an easy pregnancy. And it hasn't been easy taking care of our son. I've been working and chasing a career in marketing and advertising before I had to quit and get used to life at home. What's even more challenging is how to take care of such a fragile new life while trying to get my life back in order. But the thing is, life isn't this chronology of events nor is it some shelf where everything is ordered and labeled. Things fall in and out of place. This time, things did fall into place, and the years I'd spent exploring poetry, sound, words, spacings and the meanings these create have allowed me to reap such an unexpected honor.

Left to right: PGPI VP for Finance Adebelo Gasmin, rep of PRU Life U.K,. Yours truly with her Poet of the Year award, Second Prize winner for Fiction Scott Lee Chua, First Prize winner Christian Ray Buendia, Third Prize Winner Wayne Benitez Castillo, PGPI president Benjamin V. Ramos and Philippines Graphic publisher T. Anthony Cabangon. Picture borrowed from Sir Krip Yuson.

The event was Alphonse's first formal event. Victor, my husband, told me the baby was looking at me while I was on stage. And then I thought, "Hey, there's a poem in that gaze."