Kinaray-a epic Ginlawan wins national book award

Humadapnon (Ginlawan): Sugidanon (Epics) of Panay, Book 8, Volume 4 formally received the 2026 Best Book of Poetry in Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a during the 43rd National Book Awards awarding ceremony held on March 14, 2026, at SM Megamall. The event was organized by the National Book Development Board and the Filipino Critics Circle, and was staged alongside the Philippine Book Festival.

The win placed Ginlawan among 30 titles recognized this year from 139 finalists chosen out of 385 submitted works across 30 categories, highlighting the breadth of the competition in the country’s longest-running book awards program.

Published by The University of the Philippines Press, Ginlawan was cited for its contribution to preserving and presenting the oral epic traditions of Panay Island. The volume was researched by Alicia Magos and Anna Razel Limoso-Ramirez, translated by a team from UP Visayas and the Panay Bukidnon Indigenous Cultural Community led by Magos, and chanted by Federico Caballero. Ramirez received the award on behalf of the team.

Caballero was conferred the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan in 2000 for his expertise in the Sugidanon, the epics of Central Panay. National Museum records also note his role in helping document 10 Panay Bukidnon epics rendered in a language related to Kinaray-a.

The winning book forms part of the Sugidanon (Epics) of Panay series, which spans 14 volumes and serves as an extensive documentation project recording, translating, and analyzing the oral literature of the Panay Bukidnon community.

The edition presents the epic in four languages — the original chanting language, contemporary Kinaray-a, Filipino, and English — making the narrative accessible to a wider readership while preserving its cultural authenticity.

In the award citation, the book was described as a “landmark of literary excellence and cultural authorship. Presented in four languages – the original language of the chanter, contemporary Kinaray-a, Filipino and English – and crafted through years of dedicated collaboration among a living chanter. Cultural elders, a lead researcher, an editor and translators, the volume embodies ethical, community-grounded creation. Its linguistic precision, assured versification, mythic arc and sustained cadence showcase an epic with narrative force that resonates across audience and generations.”

The citation added: “With its clarity of storytelling and emotional reach, Humadapnon (Ginlawan) enriches the cultural, social and intellectual life of the region and the nation. As a literary heritage, it aspires for both preservation and creative use: an epic rooted in ancestral memory yet firmly of this moment, securing its place in the future of Philippine and world literatures.”

The Humadapnon epic is one of the central narratives in the Sugidanon tradition and recounts the heroic journeys and mythic exploits of the culture hero Humadapnon.

For the Panay Bukidnon, Sugidanon is a centuries-old oral tradition of epic chanting performed in upland Central Panay, and it encompasses 10 epics that reflect the community’s spiritual worldview, customs, and identity.

Through this scholarly edition, the epic is preserved not only as a literary text but also as living cultural heritage rooted in the ancestral memory of one of Panay’s indigenous communities.

The recognition from the National Book Development Board and the Filipino Critics Circle underscores the importance of scholarship and publishing initiatives that document indigenous knowledge systems and regional literatures. By bringing the Sugidanon epics to contemporary audiences, the award-winning volume contributes to the continuing preservation and appreciation of Philippine oral traditions.

Other titles cited in the same category included 17 Halin sa Iraya, edited and translated by Jose Edison C. Tondares; Kembang Kertas: Mga Binalaybay / Mga Tula by John Iremil Teodoro; and Hungaw, from the same Suguidanon series, reflecting the richness and diversity of contemporary writing in Philippine regional languages.

The recognition also affirms the growing national and international interest in regional literatures and oral epics, and highlights the crucial role of scholars, cultural bearers, and publishers in sustaining the country’s literary heritage. (CMPG-UP Visayas)