THE Universidad de Malaga (UMA) in Spain recently held a two-day forum highlighting Filipino literature written in the Spanish language.

The Philippine Embassy in Madrid said the UMA, one of the highly ranked universities in Spain, held the Congreso Internacional de Literatura Hispanofilipina from November 2 to 3.

The forum was held in Spanish to “make hispanofilipino literature accessible to everybody, even nonEnglish speakers,” the embassy said in a statement.

Experts from universities in the Philippines, Europe and the Americas were tapped as resource persons to share their knowledge on Filipino literature written in Spanish, it added.

The embassy said the forum also brought attention to the “Collección de Oriente,” a publishing effort being developed in Barcelona “so that contemporary Filipino authors who write in Spanish have a platform to disseminate their works.”

Philippine Ambassador to Madrid Philippe Lhuillier thanked UMA officials for helping preserve HispanoFilipino literature.

He said the forum was “a wonderful occasion to celebrate literature that connects both the Philippines and Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries.”

Lhuillier also urged the attendees to work together in further cementing relations between the Philippines and Spanish-speaking countries.

The ambassador recently inaugurated the Centro de Filipinas en Madrid.

The embassy said it has been “a long-time dream of Lhuillier” to have a multipurpose venue where it may conduct training and forums to upskill and/or reskill Filipinos in Spain.

Lhuillier wanted a venue for Filipino artists and performers to share their talents, a bigger space for the embassy to conduct economic and cultural diplomacy activities and a place for the Filipino community.