Perhaps because it is situated far away from Manila, which is the locus of much of Philippine literature, Dumaguete City�s contribution to the national literature�particularly from writers who trained in Silliman University�is often forgotten, or at best ignored. The reality is that Dumaguete has a considerable impact in shaping the course of Philippine literature, largely through the efforts of Edilberto K. Tiempo and his wife, the National Artist for Literature Edith Lopez Tiempo, both of whom founded the Silliman National Writers Workshop in 1962. This makes the workshop the oldest of its kind in Asia, and is still considered by many to be, in Alfred Yuson�s words, �the mother of all workshops.� Since 1962, practically all Filipino writers of any importance have joined the Silliman Writers Workshop at one time or another, either as fellows, lecturers, or panelists.
Today, many Sillimanian writers, whether or not they trained under the Tiempos in the summer workshop, have gone to help shape the history and development of Philippine literature, from Erlinda K. Alburo with her work on Cebuano literature to Leoncio Deriada with his work on Hiligaynon literature, from Marjorie Evasco on poetry in English and Cebuano to Cesar Ruiz Aquino on post-post-modernist poetry and fiction.
The Silliman Writers Project aims to document and chronicle the work of these writers, with the aim of consolidating a Dumaguete literary tradition.
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