FRANCISCO SIONIL JOSE

Born: December 3, 1924

at Rosales, Pangasinan
Pen name: F. Sionil Jose
Novels: Rosales Saga Novels, Gagamba, Viajero,
Sin, Ben Singkol, Ermita, Vibora, Sherds, Muse
and Blikbayan, Three Filipino Women, Two
Filipino Women.
Short Stories: The God Stealer, Puppy Love and
Thirteen Short Stories, Olvidon, Waywaya, Asian
PEN Anthology.
Awards: National Artist of the Philippines, Pablo
Neruda Centennial Award (2004), Chevalier dans
I’Ordre des Arts et Letteres (2000), Ramon
Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and
Creative Communication Arts (1980), City of Manila Award for Literature (1979), Carlos Palanca
memorial Award for Literature.

He is a novelists, short stories writer and non-fiction writer which works highlight the
social underpinnings, class struggles and colonial history of Filipino society. He is best known for
his epic work, The Rosales Saga – five novels encompassing a hundred years of Philippine history,
painting a vivid documentary of Filipino life. Since starting his writing career in 1949, José has
written more than 35 books, translated into more than 20 languages and published worldwide. He
has also been involved with international cultural organizations, notably International P.E.N., the
world association of poets, playwrights, essayists and novelists, whose Philippine Center he
founded in 1958. José has worked as a journalist, and has founded a bookshop, publishing house
and art gallery. In 1966, he established Solidarity, a monthly magazine of “current affairs, ideas
and the arts,” whose contributors included Southeast Asia’s leading writers, poets, statesmen,
scholars and political activists.

NICK CARBO

Born: October 10, 1964 at Legazpi, Albay

Poetry: Running Amok, El Grupo
McDonald's, Secret Asian Man, Andalusian
Dawn, Chinese, Japanese, What are These?,
Anthologies, Returning A Borrowed
Tongue,
Babaylan, Pinoy Poetics, and Accolades
Awards:
Readers Choice Award from the Asian,
American Writers Workshop (2001),
Calatagan Literary Award from the, and
Philippine American Writers & Artists, Inc.
(2005)

He is a Filipino-American writer from Legazpi, Albay, Philippines . Carbó writes poetry, essays,
and edits magazines and anthologies. He is primarily known for his book of poetry titled Secret
Asian Man, which won the Asian American Writers Workshop’s Readers Choice Award.
Carbó spent the majority of his career developing Filipino-American literature as a genre and is
credited by scholars such as Elisabetta Marino as playing an instrumental role in its modern
conception. Through his anthologies Returning a Borrowed Tongue ,Babaylan , and Pinoy Poetics,
he consolidates both Filipino and Filipino-American experiences.
 DANTON R. REMOTO
Born: March 25, 1963 at Floridablanca,
Pampanga
Poetry: Skin, Voices, Faces (1991), Black
Silk Pajamas / Poems in English and
Filipino (1996), Pulotgata; The Love
Poems (2004), Rain, Padre faura witnesses
the execution of rizal
Essays: Seduction and Solitude, X-Factor,
Gaydar, Buhay Bading, Rampa: Mga
Sanaysay, A Teacher's Tale
Books: Ladlad, Bright,Catholic and Gay,
and Happy Na, Gay Pa
He is a Filipino writer, essayist, reporter,
editor, columnist, and professor. Remoto
was a first prize recipient at the ASEAN
Letter-Writing Contest for Young People. The award made Remoto a scholar at the Ateneo de
Manila University in the Philippines. As a professor, Remoto teaches English and Journalism at
the Ateneo de Manila University.[1] Remoto is the chairman emeritus of Ang Ladlad , a lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) political party in the Philippines.

FRANCISCO ARCELLANA

Born: September 6, 1916 at Manila

Philippines
Books: The Mats, The Francisco
Arcellana sampler, Favorite Stories
and Poetry and Politics: The State of
Original Writing in English in the
Philippines Today
Awards: National Artist of the
Philippines, Carlos Palnaca
Memorial Awards

Francisco Arcellana, writer, poet,

essayist, critic, journalist and
teacher, is one of the most important
progenitors of the modern Filipino
short story in English. He pioneered
the development of the short story as
a lyrical prose-poetic form. For
Arcellana, the pride of fiction is
“that it is able to render truth, that is able to present reality”. Arcellana kept alive the experimental
tradition in fiction, and had been most daring in exploring new literary forms to express the
sensibility of the Filipino people. A brilliant craftsman, his works are now an indispensable part
of a tertiary-level-syllabi all over the country. Arcellana’s published books are Selected Stories
(1962), Poetry and Politics: The State of Original Writing in English in the Philippines Today
(1977), The Francisco Arcellana Sampler (1990).
 JOSE GARCIA VILLA

Born: August 5, 1906 at Manila,

Philippines
Pen name: Doveglion
Books: Footnote to Youth , Many
Voices, Poems by Doveglion , Poems 55
, Poems in Praise of Love and Mir-i-nisa.
Awards: National Artist of the
Philippines, Tubod National Artist,
LNNCHS Award for Literature, YFC
Fellowship/ Campus Kuya, UP Golden
Jubilee Literary Contests, Pro Patria
Award, Heritage Award.

He is considered as one of the finest

contemporary poets regardless of race or
language. Villa, who lived in Singalong,
Manila, introduced the reversed
consonance rime scheme, including the
comma poems that made full use of the punctuation mark in an innovative, poetic way. The first
of his poems “Have Come, Am Here” received critical recognition when it appeared in New York
in 1942 that, soon enough, honors and fellowships were heaped on him: Guggenheim, Bollingen,
the American Academy of Arts and Letters Awards. He used Doveglion (Dove, Eagle, Lion) as
pen name, the very characters he attributed to himself, and the same ones explored by E.E
cummings in the poem he wrote for Villa (Doveglion, Adventures in Value). Villa is also known
for the tartness of his tongue.

CIRILO F. BAUTISTA

Born: July 9, 1941 at Manila Philippines

Poetry: Summer Suns, The Cave and the Other
Poems, Charts, Telex Moon, Sugat ng Salita, Kirot
ng KAtaga, Sunlight On Broken Stones
Books: The Trilogy of Saint Lazarus, Believe and
Betray: New and Collected Poems, Words and
Battlefields: A Theoria on the Poem and Galaw ng
Asoge
Awards: Natioanal Artist of the Philippines, Hall of
Fame of the Planca Awards Foundation, Carlos
Palanca Memorial Awards, Diwa ng Lahi, Gawad
Balagtas

He is a poet, fictionist and essayist with exceptional achievements and significant contributions to
the development of the country’s literary arts. He is acknowledged by peers and critics, and the
nation at large as the foremost writer of his generation.
Throughout his career that spans more than four decades, he has established a reputation for fine
and profound artistry; his books, lectures, poetry readings and creative writing workshops continue
to influence his peers and generations of young writers.
As a way of bringing poetry and fiction closer to the people who otherwise would not have the
opportunity to develop their creative talent, Bautista has been holding regular funded and unfunded
workshops throughout the country. In his campus lecture circuits, Bautista has updated students
and student-writers on literary developments and techniques.
 ROBERT LEE FROST

Born: March 26, 1874 at San

Francisco, California
Poetry: The Road Not Taken,
stopping by Woods, Fire and Ice, The
Oven Bird, Spring Pools and many
more.
Book: A Boy’s Will, North of Boston
Awards: Pulitizer Prizes for Poetry,
United States Poet Laureate,
American Academy of Arts and
Letters Gold Medal for Poetry
He is an American poet. His work was
initially published in England before
it was published in America. Known
for his realistic depictions of rural life
and his command of American
colloquial speech. Frost drifted
through a string of occupations after leaving school, working as a teacher, cobbler, and editor of
the Lawrence Sentinel. His first published poem, “My Butterfly," appeared on November 8, 1894,
in the New York newspaper The Independent. He was honoured frequently during his lifetime,
receiving Pulitizer Prizes for Poetry. He became one of America’s rare “public literary figures,
almost an artistic institution.

MAYA ANGELOU

Born: April 4, 1928 at St. Louis, Missouri,

United States
Books: Mom & Me & Mom; Letter to My
Daughter; All God’s Children Need Traveling
Shoes, The Heart of a Woman; Singin’ and
Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas,
Gather Together in My Name; and I Know Why
the Caged Bird Sings.
Poetry: A Brave and Startling Truth; The
Complete Collected Poems of Maya
Angelou; Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My
Journey Now ; I Shall Not Be Moved ; Shaker,
Why Don’t You Sing?; Oh Pray My Wings Are
Gonna Fit Me Well; Phenomenal Woman
and Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘fore I
Diiie
She was an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer,
director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. In 2000, she received the National Medal of
Arts, and in 2010 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
The first black woman director in Hollywood, Angelou wrote, produced, directed, and starred in
productions for stage, film, and television. In 1971, she wrote the original screenplay and musical
score for the film Georgia, Georgia, and was both author and executive producer of a five-part
television miniseries “Three Way Choice.” She also wrote and produced several prize-winning
documentaries, including “Afro-Americans in the Arts," a PBS special for which she received the
Golden Eagle Award. Angelou was twice nominated for a Tony award for acting: once for her
Broadway debut in Look Away (1973), and again for her performance in Roots (1977).
 GABRIELA MISTRAL

Born: April 7, 1889 at Vicuña, Chile

Works: Sonetos de la muerte,
Desolación (1922; “Desolation”), includes
the poem “Dolor,” Ternura (1924,
enlarged 1945; “Tenderness”), Tala (1938;
“Destruction”), Lagar (1954; “The Wine
Press”), and Decalogue of an Artist
Awards: Nobel Prize in Literature

Gabriela Mistral, pseudonym of Lucila

Godoy Alcayaga is a Chilean poet, who in
1945 became the first Latin American to
win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Of Spanish, Basque, and Indian descent,
Mistral grew up in a village of
northern Chile and became a schoolteacher
at age 15, advancing later to the rank of college professor. Throughout her life she combined writing with
a career as an educator, cultural minister, and diplomat; her diplomatic assignments included posts in
Madrid, Lisbon, Genoa, and Nice.
Her reputation as a poet was established in 1914 when she won a Chilean prize for three “Sonetos de la
muerte” (“Sonnets of Death”). They were signed with the name by which she has since been known, which
she coined from those of two of her favourite poets, Gabriele D’Annunzio and Frédéric Mistral.

JORGE ISSACS FERRER

Born: April 1, 1837 at Cali, Valle

del Cauca, Columbia
Notable Works: Maria

He is a Columbian writer,
politician and soldier. He first
settled in Choco, Columbia, where
he made a fortune from gold
mining and trade with Jamaica. His
only novel Maria became one of
the most notable works of the
Romantic movement in Spanish-
language literature. His book based
on romantic experiences, has an
elegiac tone, tells the story of the
tragic love of Maria and her cousin
Efrain, in Valle del Cauca.
 PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY – ADONAIS

Born: August 4 1792 at Horsham, Sussex,

England
Works: Zastrozzi, The Necessity of Atheism,
Posthumous Fragments of Margaret
Nicholson, St Irvyne, The Devl’s Walk,
Queen Mab, Alastor, The Daemon of the
World, The Triumph of Life, Wolfstein,
Hellas, Epipsychidion, Adonais, The Witch of
Atlas and many more.
Shelley was one of the major English
Romantic poets, who is regarded by some as
among the finer lyric and philosophical poets
in the English language. He was born into a
minor aristocratic family. His father, Sir
Timothy Shelley, was a Whig Member of
Parliament. For schooling, Shelley was sent to Syon House and later Eton College. At an early
age, Shelley developed unorthodox views and attitudes, which often caused him to be bullied by
classmates. His unhappy life in school institutions caused him to withdraw into reading and made
him even more independently minded.
Shelley at Oxford and Views on Religion
In 1810, Shelley went to University College, Oxford. It was widely held that he rarely attended
formal lectures; instead preferring to read his own selection of books. It was at Oxford that he
published his first poetry and novel Zastrozzi (1810). In the following year, he wrote another novel
and a pamphlet ‘The Necessity of Atheism‘. In this pamphlet, Shelley questioned the existence of
God and the role of Christianity.

GIACOMO LEOPARDI

Born: June 29 1798 at Recanati, Italy

Works: Puerili e abbozzi vari, Pensaments,
Pompeo in Egitto, The Zibaldone, First
Canti, The Idilli, L’Infinito, The Canzoni,
Ad Angelo Mai, Nelle nozzi della sorella,
Paolina, Ad un vincitor di Pallone, Bruto
minore, Ultimo canto di Saffo, Alla
primavera and Al conte Carlo, Alla sua
donna, Operette morali, Canti Pisano-
Recanatesi, II Risorgimento, A Silvia,
He is Italian philosopher, poet,
essayist and philologist. He is considered the
greatest poet of the Italian 19th century and
the most important figures in the literature of
the world, as well as one of the principal of
literary romanticism; the depth of his reflection on existence and on the human condition – of
sensous and materialist inspiration – also makes him a thick philosopher. He is widely seen as one
of the most radical and challenging thinkers of the 19th century.
 DAVID DIOP

Born: July 9, 1927

Notable Works: Coups de pilon which
published as Hammer Blows and Africa my
Africa.
David Diop is considered one of the most
promising French West African poets. His short
life's work often involved his longing for Africa
and his empathy for those fighting against the
French colonization of the mainland. His work
shows a hatred for the oppressors and the
aforementioned empathy for the oppressed.
He started writing poems while he was still in
school, and his poems started appearing in
Présence Africaine at the age of 15. Several of
his poems were published in Léopold Senghor's famous anthology, which became a landmark of
modern black writing in French. He employed casual narrative styles in his poetry, and thus it
became a new style of protest poetry. In 1960, Diop and his wife were killed in a plane crash
returning to France from Dakar. Most of his work was unpublished and supposedly destroyed in
the crash; all that remains of his poetic bibliography are the twenty-two poems published during
his lifetime in the collection Coups de Pillon from Présence Africaine in 1956. It was posthumously
published in English as Hammer Blows, translated and edited by Simon Mpondo and Frank Jones
(African Writers Series, 1975) by Heineman.

RITA FRANCES DOVE

Born: August 28, 1952 at Akron, Ohio, U.S

Notable Works: Thomas and Beulah, The
Dark Face of the Earth, Sonata Mulattica
Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, United
States Poet Laureate, Poet Laureate of
Virginia, National Humanities Medal,
National Medal of Arts
She is an poet and essayist which appointed
as the first African-American to have been
appointed as special consultant in poetry. She
was born in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of one
of the first black chemists in the tire industry.
Dove was encouraged to read widely by her
parents, and excelled in school. She was
named a Presidential Scholar, one of the top
one hundred high-school graduates in the
country and attended Miami University in
Ohio as a National Merit Scholar. After
graduating, Dove received a Fulbright to study at the University of Tübingen in West Germany, and later
earned an MFA at the Iowa Writers' Workshop where she met her husband, the German writer Fred
Viebahn. Dove made her formal literary debut in 1980 with the poetry collection The Yellow House on the
Corner,which received praise for its sense of history combined with individual detail. The book heralded
the start of long and productive career, and it also announced the distinctive style that Dove continues to
develop. In works like the verse-novel Thomas and Beulah (1986), which won the Pulitzer Prize, On the
Bus with Rosa Parks (1999), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Sonata
Mulattica (2009), Dove treats historical events with a personal touch, addressing her grandparents’ life and
marriage in early 20th-century Ohio, the battles and triumphs of the Civil Rights era, and the forgotten
career of black violinist and friend to Beethoven, George Polgreen Bridgetower.
 HITOMI ITO
Born: September 13, 1955 at Tokyo Japan
Works: Unripe Plums, Territory 1 and 2,
Kanoko-goroshi, Noro to saniwa to, Watashi
wa Anjuhimeko de a aru,, Kawara arekusa,
Shin Sugamo Jizo engi, Yomitoki Hannya
shingyo, Nihon no fushigi na hanashi
Awards: Gendai Shi Techo Prize, Mishima
Yukio Prize, Akugatawa Prize, Noma Literary
Prize, Takami Jun Prize, Hagiwara Sakutaro
Prize, Izumi Shikibu Prize

Himoto is a poet and novelist. She is one of the

most prominent woman writers of
contemporary Japan, with more than a dozen collections of poetry, several works of prose,
numerous books of essays and several major literary prizes to her name.

RABINDARATH TAGORE

Born: May 7, 1861 at Calcutta, British

India
Works: Gitanjali, Gora, Ghare-Baire, Jan,
Gana Mana. Rabindra Sangeet, Amar
Shonar Bangla, Jogajog
Awards: Nobel Prize in Literature

He is a polymath, a poet, musician and

artist. He reshaped Bengali literature and
music as well as Indian art with Contextual
Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. He is first non European who
became a winner of Nobel Prize in
Literature. He is referred to the “Bard of
Bengal”.