An Ilocano by birth, Tita Lacambra-Ayala relocated to Davao in the mid-50s, her writer’s engagement coming to include school journalism and working for a pineapple-canning factory. She broke through in 1960 with Sunflower Poems, a slim first book of chipboard-printed poems. Critics noted her emotional intensity, finding strength in her “deliberate diminution of scale and scope.”

Her 1981 art and poetry folio, billed as the Road Map Series, has helped launch the career of the region’s budding artists. With 76 issues to date, the series has enjoyed the steady support of local sponsors as it features the region’s vibrant output of verse. In 2003, the NCCA funded the Road Map’s electronic version, in VCD format, for audience viewing in both the literary and visual arts. Copies of the Road Map discs, donated by Lacambra-Ayala herself, enhance her ALIWW memorabilia.

As series editor and publisher, Lacambra-Ayala recounts: “The Road Map Series print collection of literary and visual arts is what I consider noteworthy in my stint as a writer. It has absorbed my store of critical energy that comes with wisdom of years and experiencing, helping artists in the area to take stock of their own works and ideas and generate their own directions by giving them a Road Map push. I consider this my most satisfying work, untrammeled by deadlines, except what I set for myself in conjunction with press schedules, in the simple, manageable format of a poster book. There, even the busiest reader can, at a glance or two, become informed of an artist’s work. Some simple glances can be the most total, the most lasting.”