DISCOVERING N.V.M.

 The N.V.M. Gonzalez Writers’ Workshop has been providing support and inspiration to Filipino American writers, young and old, published or not-published, with the simple idea that good fiction writing and storytelling is the Filipinos’ most effective way to stake their presence anywhere they might be.
Nathan Go's serious deep encounter with N.V.M.'s stories was, ironically, in Michigan, as a M.F.A. student. Although he grew up and studied in the Philippines, he has only heard of N.V.M., as most schools are wont to include his work in their basic Filipino literature classes. Nathan sees N.V.M.’s writing as evocative in place and time and recommends reading him in parallel to Chekhov and Joyce, two, incidentally, of N.V.M.’s 

favorite writers.

I often heard about N.V.M. Gonzalez while growing up in the Philippines, but my first serious reading of his work only happened while I was pursuing my M.F.A. at Michigan. I designed an independent course on Filipino and Filipino-American literature and took advantage of UM’s vast collection on this subject. One of my favorite short stories by Gonzalez is “A Warm Hand” – a story that starts off fairly slow with the characters entering a dinghy. The strong wind against the boat foreshadows a dark turn later on, when one of the women, forced to sleep inside a peasant hut with the other passengers while waiting for the storm to pass, feels a hand caressing her in the night. Gonzalez’s masterful use of language and selection of details are what make the piece so enjoyable to read, even though the conflict is so slight and likely to evade careless readers. Gonzalez’s ability to portray Mindoro so evocatively can teach anyone writing about a different place – the universality in the specifics is what I take from Gonzalez each time I re-read his work. Emerging Filipino and Filipino-American writers will do well to read Gonzalez, side-by-side with a study of Chekhov and Joyce.

The N.V.M. Gonzalez Writers’ Workshop is the only one of its kind in the U.S. that brings together like-minded Filipino writers. The support and friendship from the people I met here are long-lasting and had a profound effect on me, considering that I attended while just learning how to write literary fiction. 

We alumni keep in touch and develop a community while living in different states and regions 

of the country.

© Nathan Go