With the founding of the Philippine Writers League in 1936, Filipino writers began

discussing the value of literature in the society they live in. This move was led by Salvador
P. Lopez whose works centered on proletarian literature.
It was during the early American period that the sarswela gained popularity. Most of the
sarwelas if not all are directed against the American imperialists. The works of Severino
Reyes ("Walang Sugat") and Patricio Mariano ("Anak ng Dagat") are equally remarkable
sarwelas during the period. Here are the other noted sarswelistas: Aurelio Tolentino, Juan
Abad, Juan Matapang Cruz, and Juan Crisostomo Sotto.

Among the Ilokano writers, noted novelists were Leon Pichay, Hermogenes Belen, and
Mena Pecson Crisologo whose Mining wenno Ayat ti Kararwa is considered to be the
Ilokano version of Noli Me Tangere. Magdalena Jalandoni and Ramon Muzones are the
most prominent writers in the Visayas region. Their works depicted love, farm life, and the
social life the region is having.
The latter stages of the American period continued to produce great poets like Julian Cruz
Blamaceda, Florentino Collantes, Pedro Gatmaitan, Jose Corazon de Jesus, Lope K.
Santos, Alejandro Abadilla, Teodoro Agoncillo, and Inigo Ed. Regalado. They used a
modern style of poetry that is made up of free verse.
Liwayway Arceo and Genoveva Edroza Matute are two fictionist writers that became
popular during the American rule. Their works "Uhaw ang Tigang na Lupa" and "Ako'y
Isang Tinig" respectively are used as models for fine writing. Both writers use a style of
storytelling that uses language through poignant rendition. Teodoro Agoncillo's "25
Pinakamahusay na Maikling Kuwento" included the foremost writers of fiction before
World War II.