“Coffee or Tea for Poem” on March 21 at 78-year-old Kamuning Bakery Cafe

  To promote love of poetry, “Coffee or Tea for Poem” will be held on March 21, 2017 the whole day Tuesday to celebrate UNESCO’s “World Poetry Day” for the second year in Quezon City’s pioneering, 78-year-old, artisanal/pugon-style Kamuning Bakery Cafe. Customers can pay for their coffee or tea drink with their original poem in any language that day at No. 43 Judge Jimenez St. corner K-1st Street, Kamuning, Quezon City.
     All published poets who bring their book or magazine with their original poem shall also be given FREE coffee or tea on that day.

            The verses will be published on Kamuning Bakery Cafe’s Facebook page. Kamuning Bakery Cafe also hopes to publish a literary journal, primarily celebrating poetry. KBC owner Wilson Lee Flores is a writer who started writing poems in four languages as a student, his late mother educator Mary Young Siu Tin also wrote poetry.

            On March 21 morning, the special guest of Kamuning Bakery Cafe’s “Pandesal Forum” with media and intellectuals will be Singapore Ambassador Madame Kok Li Peng. Apart from hosting the tertulia-inspired, non-partisan “Pandesal Forum” for newsmakers and leaders, Kamuning Bakery Cafe hosts other cultural events for artists, thinkers and poets.

            Kamuning Bakery Cafe also hosts book launchings, such as those by ex-President Fidel V. Ramos, former Senate President Edgardo Angara (whose late cousin theater artist Zenaida Angara Amador was a neighbor and “suki” customer of Kamuning Bakery), and the only Filipino winner of USA’s American Book Award, New York-based author and activist Ninotchka Rosca. Kamuning Bakery Cafe welcomes art exhibits on paintings, photographs, etc.

            8 reasons why “Coffee or Tea for Poem” project at 78-year-old Kamuning Bakery Cafe?

— Highlight the rich legacy of poetry in the Philippines and Asia

— Encourage the love and writing of poetry, an art which ennobles & humanizes people.

—Promote more poetry readings

— Help in bringing poetry out of classrooms & literary circles into public places like a cafe

— Highlight importance of poetry to culture and better quality of life

—Help promote poetry to the mass media and social media

— Encourage more publication and distribution of poetry books

— Encourage better appreciation of and support for poets and poetry

History of Kamuning Bakery Cafe with intellectuals, artists & reform stalwarts: Kamuning Bakery was founded in 1939 as Quezon City’s first bakery upon the invitation of pre-war newspaper tycoon Don Alejandro Roces who arranged for sale of government land at 50 centavos per square meter and long payment terms to founders Atty. Leticia “Letty” Bonifacio Javier and her husband Lt. Marcelo Javier (he died fighting the Japanese military invaders of World War II in the 1945 Battle of Manila). It was acquired and revived in December 2013 by writer, history buff, foodie and realty entrepreneur Wilson Lee Flores. He restored the old cafe on March 20, 2015. Kamuning Bakery Cafe today continues its handcrafted/artisanal and “pugon” or wood-fired brick oven baking.

Among its many colorful clients include pre-war newspaper tycoons Don Alejandro Roces and his son activist Joaquin “Chino” Roces, press freedom stalwart U.P. Dean Armando Malay, the late President Cory C. Aquino, national artists like Nick Joaquin and Levi Celerio, many showbiz celebrities, to a public school student who used to walk here to buy pugon-baked breads and is now the first female Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Information on KBC’s “Pandesal Forum”: The non-partisan, liberal, pro-people and informal Pandesal Forum of Kamuning Bakery Cafe was started on September 15, 2015 by writer Wilson Lee Flores. It welcomes all speakers, not just limited to political leaders. It is inspired by the centuries-old tradition of the “tertulia”---the informal and learned salon discussions of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America; it is also inspired by ancient China’s “li lun” or intellectual discourses. The “Pandesal Forum” hopes to help elevate the quality of public discourse in the Philippines on current affairs, politics and other topics, also focusing on economic, gut or “pandesal” issues. KBC’s Pandesal Forum also advocates genuine reforms and new ideas.

For inquiries or to reserve events and art exhibits, pls. call Tels: 4161637, 9292216, 4126628; Office Tels: 4126685, 4151692, 2837163... Wilson 09188077777, 09178481818, 09228321888 or willsoonflourish@gmail.com or kamuningbakerycafe@gmail.com