I've kept this for more than a year, and I think I can freely share it now—I was chosen as a writer-in-residence for the Tulisan Nusantara Writer's Residency Program on Cempedak Island.
From Cebu, I flew to Singapore last Saturday, August 29, and on the following day, met the program’s first writer-in-residence, Pamela Ng, and we both traveled to Bintan by ferry, and soon, via speedboat, arrived on an island located about 9 to 12 kilometers off the southeast coast of Bintan in the Riau Archipelago, Indonesia.
This was the reason I had to skip the Nick Joaquin Literary Awards last August 27 in Manila.
I am the fifth writer-in-residence—and the second from the Philippines, after Alex Bicharra. I will be staying for four weeks here.
The Tulisan Nusantara program invites published authors from across Southeast Asia, one per quarter over a year, to create literary works for a monograph inspired by local island ecology and culture. At the end of a two-year cycle, the works of all eight writers will be compiled into a single volume.
This is my first writing residency, and it feels equal parts thrilling and nerve-wracking. Never in my entire life did I imagine that a love for nature, culture, and the arts would intersect so beautifully—and be acknowledged and celebrated—on an island that provides a space for sustaining the craft.
I first learned about the residency when Dr. Helen Moore, writer and research associate at the University of Gloucestershire, reached out on May 23 last year. She told me that the residency's artistic director and filmmaker, Ken Kwek, had come across my poems on Ecopoetikon and considered me as a Philippine representative. I was chosen, among countless possible writers from around the world, on the merit of three poems published in the U.K. in 2023.
Email correspondences followed. Because of time constraints in 2025, I had to humbly ask Ken if I could participate the following year instead—and genuinely thought I had missed my chance.
But here I am, on Day 5 of the residency, in an island named after a tropical fruit in the same family as jackfruit and breadfruit, in the company of the most humble and generous people I have encountered anywhere, writing poems in my own villa while the surrounding trill of cicadas continues to mystify, as if I have to retrain my ear just to confirm they are real.
None of this would be possible without the cosmos aligning—Ken Kwek connecting with Dr. Helen Moore, who was also relayed to me by Rina Garcia Chua through another literary project; the previous writers-in-residence Pamela Ng and Alex, who took the time to prepare me for what was coming before I left the Philippines; National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) Director II for Visayas National Museums Atty. Ma. Cecilia U. Tirol and Deputy Director-General for Museums Arvin Villalon, who ardently and wholeheartedly rallied for me; and Director General Jeremy Barns, who heard the rationale and simply responded, "Sounds wonderful!"; and finally, to my family, friends, and loved ones who propped me up and held my faith when I doubted myself and almost didn't pursue this.
You are all bright, glowing spots in a darkening world.
[ article below; link to Cempedak Island's Facebook post here ]
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We're excited to welcome F. Jordan Carnice to the island tomorrow, as our 5th resident for the Tulisan Nusantara writer's program.
Jordan is a writer, visual artist, and cultural worker from Tagbilaran City, Bohol, currently based in Dumaguete — a UNESCO Creative City of Literature. His poetry engages questions of selfhood, community, and reverence for the natural world, and he was named Poet of the Year at the Nick Joaquin Literary Awards in 2023, 2024, and 2026—a first three-peat win in the award’s history.
If you're on-island during his stay, feel free to stop by and say hello!
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