Early Sol Gadong

Early Sol Gadong

By

Melchor F. Cichon
January 18, 2015

I was intrigued with her name: Early Sol.

So I asked her "what’s behind your name?"

She said:

“Regarding my name. Weird names run in our family. My father's name was Ermity, my mother is Leconvic, my aunt is Solcar. Taking the first syllables of their names, my name was supposed to be Erlesol. Haha! My mother modified it to be Early Sol, which is still pretty weird.”

Sol was born on June 17, 1983.

Her parents are Ermity G.Gadong, Jr., from Tapaz, Capiz, while her mother is Leconvic A. Gadong from Hinigaran, Negros Occidental.  She is the eldest among four children (1 brother, 2 sisters). None of her parents are writers.

Her scholastic records show that Sol is indeed a bright student. She was Ist Honorable Mention and Character awardee when she graduated at Sta. MariaCatholic School (now Ateneo de Iloilo) in 1995. In 1999, she graduated as Salutatorian and a Gerry Roxas Leadership Awardee at UP High School in Iloilo.  In2003, she graduated at the UP Visayas with the degree of BS Applied Mathematics,and in 2013, she graduated at the same institution with a degree of Master of Education (Mathematics).

She thought she could not be a writer because she had never been the best in her classes,although she always got good scores in writing classes.

But because she was encouraged by her language teachers, particularly Ms. Aida Rabotazo (primary school), Prof. Ma, Lourdes Ladrido (secondary school), and Prof. Mila Legislador (tertiary level), to improve her writing skills, her desire to become a writer was eventually developed.

And so she writes short stories.

She started writing short stories in 2012, when she became a fellow in Fiction at the Ateneo National Writers Workshop in Metro Manila. She also attended the Iyas Creative Writing Workshop in Bacolod City that same year. After those workshops,  she was challenged to write  short stories in Hiligaynon. 

Before attending the national creative writing workshops, Sol attended the San Agustin Writers Workshop in 2009 and the Lamiraw Workshop the following year,

With her background in mathematics, it is but logical that her knowledge in mathematics will be integrated in her literary works.


This integration of mathematics in her short stories can be found in her short story entitled “Kon Indi Man Matulugan” published in 2013 in the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (KWF) Aklat ng Bayan. This story is part of an anthology “Pagbalik sang Babaylan”.

 
This concept of mathematics in literature is not new. She said that integrating mathematical concepts in short stories is as old as literature itself.

But I think this concept of integrating mathematical concept in literature is new in Western Visayas Literature. 

While writing short stories for adults, Sol also tried her hands in writing stories for children. And so far she has been successful. And she has been winning prizes in Kiniray-a short story writing contests. The latest was her winning entry in the Kiniray-a writing contest sponsored by Dungug Kiniray-a in San Jose de Buenavista, Antique. 

To date she has these accomplishments as a writer both in Kinaray-a and in Hiligaynon:

A short story in Kinaray-a turned into a picture book published by Gen Asenjo's Balay Sugidanun. Peter Nery published her stories for children and flash fiction in Hiligaynon in two of his anthologies. Dungug Kinaray-a also included another of her short story for children in their collection. John Iremil Teodoro included one of her Hiligaynon stories as a part of an anthology published by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, and another Hiligaynon short story was part of a collection edited by Dr.  Leoncio P. Deriada.

Since Sol is still young, she hopes to improve her craft and write better and more.

If she is not indulged in creative writing, she said that she sees a movie whenever she has time. And she likes dreaming up of new places to travel to and explore. But she has not used her adventure experiences in any of her stories.

Not yet.