EDU Manzano, Miriam Quiambao, Nikki Gil, Matt Evans, Lyn Ching-Pascual, Romnick Sarmienta, Rhea Santos, Christine Bersola-Babao, Chin-Chin Gutierrez and Harlene Bautista will give life to the works of renowned poets while riding the LRT.
It will be a different sort of experience as the National Book Development Board (NBDB) and the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) bring Philippine poetry closer to the train-riding public through the imaginative ?Tulaan sa Tren? project.
Conceived by NBDB Executive Director Andrea Pasion-Flores, herself a published writer of fiction, the program is designed to provide train passengers with an appreciation for Philippine Literature as they listen to their favorite celebrities reading poems about Manila over the public announcement system of LRT Line 2 stations.
The poetry Jose Corazon de Jesus, Rio Alma, Cirilo Bautista, Benilda Santos, Marjorie Evasco, Jose Lacaba, Vim Nadera and Conchitina Cruz will come to life through the poetry reading celebrities.
Excerpts from the poems will also be printed in Tulaan sa Tren posters that will be posted inside the trains.
Aside from promoting Philippine poetry, Tulaan sa Tren also aims to give its passengers a different perspective on familiar places in Metro Manila, as they will hear about them as experienced by our own poets. Tulaan sa Tren posters will also feature photos of places in Manila by travel photographer Jay Alonzo and celebrity poetry readers holding Philippine-authored books, who love for Philippine-authored works.
Pasion-Flores hopes that this project will reinforce its other readership promotion campaign in its efforts not just to get Filipinos to read more, but to read Filipino writers.
?We hope that the people who will perhaps encounter our poetry for the first time in this novel way, will realize that Philippine literature is something we can all be proud of, and that they will look up the authors, whose works we featured, to discover more treasures.?
Tulaan sa Tren is a joint project of the NBDB and LRTA, in partnership with the Optical Media Board and the Book Development Association of the Philippines.
