Karla Lenina Comanda, MFA student in Creative Writing at UBC and member of the UBC Philippine Studies Series, will be reading her poems as part of the St. John’s College Resident Fellows Speakers Series. Please find details below:

“In Mo[u]rning: Poetics of the Maguindanao Massacre” by Karla Lenina Comanda

January 12, 2016 (Tuesday), 8PM
Social Lounge, St. John’s College, UBC

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Abstract:
Considered to be the worst case of election-related violence in Philippine history, the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre resulted in the deaths of 58 people, with many of the victims being journalists, lawyers, and women. In this talk, I will read plunderverse poems about the massacre’s victims from an in-progress collection. Using President Gloria Arroyo’s declaration of Martial Law in the region as the source text, my poems humanize those who died from the slaughter, capturing their thoughts as they prepare to depart and (unknowingly) meet their fates.