news from the alma mater

Thank you, my dear alma mater, Silliman University. It has been a tremendous time.

I genuinely thought this would be a mellower year. Since the beginning of 2026, I had deliberately made peace with a certain reality, which is that no matter how good and harmless your intentions are, there will always be people who usurp and twist them. And so, to avoid the headaches, I decided to let things be. Let’s try that.

But the cosmos had other plans. I was pulled in a direction I had not even considered taking. As it turns out, that direction led not to one but two sweet destinations in a short span of time. For that, I am grateful.

Recognition like the Poet of the Year at the Nick Joaquin Literary Awards from the Philippines Graphic and an opportunity like the Tulisan Nusantara Writer’s Residency in Cempedak Island, Indonesia come few and far between—especially for a queer, Bisaya millennial living in the middle of a turbulent country that remains stubbornly resistant to reckoning with generational trauma. I was told I’d be a fool not to celebrate these. They were right.

All of this reminded me of a time when I literally stopped writing for nearly three years—nothing of substance published from 2013 to 2016—because the world just felt terrible, and it was unfortunately full of terrible people. But just like this year’s gifts, there were those who reached out, ushered me toward opportunities, and pulled me back to the craft.

Sometimes, I suppose, good intentions do attract good things from the universe. They don’t always have to pave the way to hell. You don’t have to dim your light.

[ link to Silliman University's Facebook post here and link to Silliman University website's full article here ]

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#SillimanNews: Silliman University (SU) alumnus F. Jordan Carnice, a 2009 graduate of the Bachelor of Arts in English major in Creative Writing program, has marked two major literary milestones: becoming the first three-time Poet of the Year at the Nick Joaquin Literary Awards (NJLA) and being selected for a four-week international writers residency in Indonesia.

Carnice won the 2026 Poet of the Year award for his poetry suite, Three Poems Before 2025, which bested more than 200 entries. The awards ceremony was held on August 27, 2026, at the Luxent Hotel in Quezon City.

The winning suite consists of “Poreuomai,” “You Cannot Change That,” and “2024,” first published in the March 2025 issue of the Philippines Graphic Reader, the monthly literary supplement of the Philippines Graphic. Works published in the Reader automatically qualify for the annual competition.