Name: Manuel Estabilla Arguilla

Born: June 17, 1911 at Nagrebcan, Bauang, La Union

Died: August 30, 1944 at Manila Chinese Cemetery (Manila North Cemetery)

Cause of Death: Beheaded with swords by the Japanese army

Short Description:

 He was an Ilokano writer in English, a patriot and a martyr

 He is known for his widely anthologized short story “How My Brother Leon Brought
Home a Wife” which won 1st prize in the Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940
 “Midsummer” and “Heat” were published in Tondo, Manila by the Prairie Schooner
 Most of his stories depict scenes in Barrio Nagrebcan, Bauang, La Union.
 He studied at the University of the Philippines, finished his BS in Education in 1933, and
became a member and later the president of the U. P. Writer’s Club and editor of the
university’s Literary Apprentice
 He married Lydia Villanueva and they lived in Ermita, Manila
 He became a creative writing teacher at the University of Manila and later worked at the
Bureau of Public Welfare as managing editor of the bureau’s publication Welfare
Advocate until 1943
 On August 5, 1944, he was captured and tortured by the Japanese army at Fort
Santiago
Name: Francisco Sionil Jose

Born: December 3, 1924 at Rosales, Pangasinan

Short Description:

 He is one of the most widely read Filipino writers in the English language
 His novels and short stories depict the social underpinnings of class struggles and
colonialism in Filipino society
 He studied at the University of Santo Thomas
 Married to Teresita Jose and most of his writings are fiction-based
 Some of his famous books are Po-on, The Pretenders, My Brother, My Executioner
 He was awarded with the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Short Story
Name: Jose Garcia Villa

Born: August 5, 1908 at Singalong district in Manila

Died: February 7, 1997 at New York, United States of the America

Cause of Death: Cerebral stroke and pneumonia

Short Description:

 He was a Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He was awarded as
the National Artist of the Philippines title for Literature in 1973
 He is known to have introduced the “reversed consonance rhyme scheme” in writing
poetry, as well as the extensive use of punctuation marks – especially commas, which
made him known as the Comma Poet.
 He used the penname “Doveglion” (derived from “Dove, Eagle and Lion”)
 He graduated from the University of the Philippines Integrated School and the University
of the Philippines High School in 1925.
 Some of his notable works are “The Anchored Angel”, “The Emperor’s New Sonnet”, and
“Footnote to Youth”
 He was married to Rosemarie Lamb with whom he had two sons, Randall and Lance.
They annulled their marriage ten years later.
Name: Francisco “Franz” Arcellana

Born: September 6, 1916

Died: August 1, 2002

Short Description:

 He was a Filipino writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist and teacher

 Ever since at a young age, he already had ambitions of becoming a writer. His actual
writing, however, started when he became a member of The Torres Torch Organization
during his high school years
 He received a Rockfeller Grant and became a fellow in Creative Writing at the University
of Iowa and at the Breadloaf Writer’s Conference from 1956 – 1957
 He is considered an important progenitor of the modern Filipino short story in English.
He pioneered the development of the short story as a lyrical prose-poetic from within
Filipino Literature.
 Many of his works were translated into Tagalog, Malaysian, Russian, Italian and
German.
 He won 2nd place for the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature in 1951,
with his short story, “The Flowers of May”
Name: Bienvenido N. Santos

Born: March 22, 1911 at Tondo, Manila

Died: January 7, 1996

Short Descriptions:

 He was a Filipino-American fiction, poetry and non-fiction writer.

 He lived in the United States for many years where he is widely credited as a pioneering
Asian-American writer
 He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Philippines where he
first studied creative under Paz Marquez Benitez.
 In 1941, Santos was a government pensionado (scholar) to the United States at the
University of Ilinois, Columbia and Harvard University.
 During World War II, he served with the Philippine government in exile under President
Manuel L. Quezon in Washington, D.C., together with the playwright Severino Montano
and Philippine National Artist Jose Garcia Villa
 He received a Rockfeller Fellowship at the Writers Workshop of the University of Iowa
where he later taught as a Fulbright exchange professor.
 He also received a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a Republic Cultural Heritage
Award in Literature as well as several Palanca Awards for his short stories.
 “Scent of Apples” won a 1980 American Book Award from the Before Columbus
Foundation
Name: Rolando Tinio

Born: March 5, 1937 at Gagalangin, Tondo, Manila

Died: July 8, 1997

Cause of Death: He died of heart attack

Short Description:

 He was an active participant in the Filipino movie industry and enjoyed working with
Philippine celebrities who he himself admired in his childhood.
 He graduated with honors (“magna cum laude”) with a degree in Philisophy from the
Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Thomas at the age of 18 in 1955
 In the mid-1960’s, he decided to try writing in Tagalog and the product of this trial was
the collection of poems now called Bagay. He was the sole inventor of “Taglish” in
Philippine poetry
 “Sitsit sa Kuliglig” shows a great contrast between his old and new advocacy. He was
also an actor, director, and a set and costume designer
 He published four seminal books of poems between 1972 and 1933, in which, along with
his longtime friend, Bienvenido Lumbera, helped modernize the traditionally sentimental
Filipino style.
 He also wrote the lyrics for the six hymns of the “Misa ng Alay-Kapwa” the music for
which was composed by Fr. Eduardo P. Hontiveros, SJ. These hymns were published in
the now out of print, “Mga Awiting Pambansa”
 He was married to Ella Luansing with two children, Antonio and Victoria.
Name: Edith L. Tiempo

Born: April 22, 1919 at Quezon City

Died: August 21, 2011

Short Description:

 She is a poet, fiction writer, teacher and literary critic Filipino writer in the English
language
 Her poems are intricate verbal transfigurations of significant experiences as revealed in
two of her much anthologized pieces, “Halaman” and “Bonsai”
 Her language has been marked as “descriptive but unburdened by scrupulous detailing”
 She was married to Edilderto K. Tiempo, a critic and writer, they founded (in 1962) and
directed the Siliman National Workshop in Dumaguete City, which has produced some
of the Philippines’ best writers
 She was conferred the National Artist Award for Literature in 1999
 Some of her novels are “A Blade of Fern”, “His Native Coast”, and “The Jumong”
 Some of her honors and awards are National Artist Award for Literature, Carlos Palanca
Memorial Awards for Literature, and Cultural Center of the Philippines (1979, 1 st prize in
Novel)
Name: Kerima Polotan Tuvera

Born: December 16, 1925 at Jolo, Sulu

Died: August 19, 2011

Cause of Death: A serious illness

Short Description:

 She was a Filipino fiction writer, essayist, and journalist. Some of her stories were
published under the pseudonym “Patricia S. Torres”
 Her father was an army colonel and her mother taught home economics.
 She graduated from the Far Eastern University Girls’ High school. In 1994, she enrolled
in the University of the Philippines School of Nursing and in 1945, she transferred
schools to Arellano University, where she attended the writing classes of Teodoro M.
Locsin.
 In 1949, she married newsman Juan Capiendo Tuvera, a childhood friend and fellow
writer, with whom she had 10 children.
 In 1952, her short story “The Virgin”, won two first prizes namely, “The Philippines Free
Press Literary Awards” and “The Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature”
 In 1961, she was bestowed with “The Stonehill Award” for her novel “The Hand of the
Enemy” and was considered the government’s highest form of recognition for artists at
that time.
Name: Marguerite Annie Johnson Angelou (known as “Maya Angelou”)

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

Died: May 28, 2014

Cause of Death: Health issues

Short Description:

 She was an American author, actress, screenwriter, dancer, poet and civil rights activist
best known for her 1969 memoir, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, which made
literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman.
 In 1944, a 16-year-old Angelou gave birth to a son, Guy Johnson.
 In 1952, she was married to Anastasios Angelopulos, a Greek sailor from whom she
took her professional name – a blend of her childhood nickname, “Maya”, and a
shortened version of his surname. The couple later divorced. Angelou was likely married
at least three times.
 Angelou’s career has seen numerous accolades, including the Chicago International
Film Festival’s 1998 Audience Choice Award and a nod from the Acapulco Black Film
Festival in 1999 for “Down in the Delta”. She also won two NAACP Image Awards in the
outstanding literary work (nonfiction) category, for her 2005 cookbook and 2008’s “Letter
to My Daughter”
Name: Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Born: June 29, 1900 at Lyon, France

Died: He was only reported as “Killed in Action” in July 31, 1944

Short Description:

 He was a French aviator and author. He documented his adventures as a pilot in works
such as “Wind, Sand and Stars” and “The Little Prince”
 In 1912 he took his first trip in an airplane – an experience that would have a profound
and lasting impression on him
 He was sent away to a boarding school in Switzerland after the outbreak of World War I.
He returned to France in1917 and briefly attended a college prep school in Paris before
attempting to enter the naval academy
 He initially works as a mechanic in the army.
 He began to write stories inspired by his experiences as a pilot. He published his first
work, “The Aviator”, in 1926, the same year that he returned to flying as a mail pilot with
the aviation company Aeropostale in Toulouse.
 His work “Night Flight” that was published in 1931 received the Prix Femina Literary
Prize
 He married Consuelo Suncin, a Salvadoran writer and artist
Name: Khaled Hosseini

Born: March 14, 1965 at Kabul, Afghanistan

Short Description:

 He is an Afghan-born American novelist who was known for his vivid depictions of
Afghanistan, most notably in “The Kite Runner” (2003)
 He grew up in Kabul. His father was a diplomat and his mother was a secondary school
teacher.
 In 1976 he and his parents moved to Paris where his father worked at the Afghan
embassy.
 He attended Santa Clara University where he studied biology, and in 1989 he began
attending medical school at the University of California, San Diego.
 He began working on “The Kite Runner” in 2001, writing at 4:00 AM before heading to
his medical practice.
 “The Kite Runner” was praised for its powerful storytelling, but it was, at times, dismissed
by critics for elements considered melodramatic.
 His second novel, “A Thousand Splendid Suns” that was written in 2007, it was inspired
by his observations of women wearing burkas during a 2003 visit to Afghanistan.
 “And the Mountains Echoed” written in 2013, concerns a brother and a sister separated
when the latter is give up for adoption because their family’s straitened circumstances.
 “Sea Prayer” his newest novel, he drew this on the highly publicized death of a three-
year-old Syrian refugee who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in 2015.
Name: Ophelia Alcantara Dimalanta

Born: June 16, 1932 at San Juan City

Died: November 4, 2010

Short Description:

 She was a Filipino poet, editor, author and teacher

 In 1999, she received Southeast Asia’s highest literary honor, the S.E.A. Write Award.
 She took up her Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree and Doctor of Philosophy at the
University of Santo Thomas (UST).
 She trained as a concert pianist, Dimalanta focused on poetry, publishing her first
collection of poems, “Montage” in 1974
 She served as the Writer in Residence and a Full Professor of Literature and Creative
Writing at the UST Graduate School and at the Faculty of Arts and Letters until her
untimely passing.
 She became a panelist for various writing workshops at UST, University of the
Philippines, Siliman University in Dumaguete and Mindanao State University – Iligan
Institute of Technology in Iligan.
 She published several books in her lifetime: seven books on poetry, one on drama, one
on criticism and one on her collected prose. Her first collection of poems, “Montage”,
won the Iowa State University Best Poetry Award (1969) and first prize in the Palanca
Memorial Awards for Literature (1974)
Name: Cirilo F. Bautista

Born: July 9, 1941 at Manila

Died: May 6, 2018

Short Description:

 He was a Filipino poet, critic and writer of nonfiction and was conferred with the National
Artist of the Philippines award in 2014
 He received his degrees in AN Literature from the University of Santo Thomas (magna
cum laude, 1963), MA Literature from St. Louis University, Baguio (magna cum laude,
1968), and Doctor of Arts in Language and Literature from De La Salle University –
Manila (1990).
 He taught creative writing and literature at St. Louis University (1963 – 1968) and the
University of Santo Thomas (1969 – 1970) before moving to De La Salle University –
Manila in 1970.
 He is also a co-founding member of the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PPLAC) and a
member of the Manila Critics Circle, Philippine Center of International PEN and the
Philippine Writers Academy.
 He received the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards (for poetry, fiction and essay in
English and Filipino) as well as Philippines Free Press Awards for fiction.
 He was hailed in 1993 as “Makata ng Taon” by the Komisyon ng mga Wika ng Pilipinas
for winning the poetry contest sponsored by the government.
Name: Merlie M. Alunan

Born: December 14, 1943 at Dingle, Iloilo

Short Description:

 She graduated in Siliman University with an MA in Creative Writing in 1974.

 She teaches at the Creative Writing Center University of the Philippines Visayas
Tacloban College.
 She was awarded with the Lilian Jerome Thornton Award for Nonfiction, the Don Carlos
Palanca Memorial Award for Literature, the National Book Award, the Sunthorn Phu
Literary Awards and Ani ng Dangal
 Some of her notable works are “Heartstone, Sacred Tree” (1993), “Amina among the
Angels” (1997), and “Selected Poems” (2004)
 “Kabilin: 100 Years of Negros Oriental” her nonfiction work for the Negros Oriental
Foundation (1993)
Name: Amadis Maria Guerrero

Born: April 15, 1941 at Ermita, Manila

Short Description:

 He finished his Bachelor’s degree in History at the University of Santo Thomas

 He has published short stories in 1974, “Children of the City and Other Stories”
 He also brought in the same year with Purita Kalaw Ledesma, “The Struggle of the
Philippine Arts”
 In 1975, he came up with a second collection of short stories called “The Mainstream
and Other Stories”
 His third short story collection, “Red Roses for Rebo” (1986) included both short stories
and even essays
 He wrote for Graphic Magazine. He also wrote and published his works in various
magazines such as “Leader”, “Women’s Home Companion”, and “Ellery Queen’s
Mystery Magazine”
 Later in life, he was writing for the national newspaper “Philippine Daily Inquirer”
 His short story, “The Children of the City” won in 1971 a third prize in the Don Carlos
Palanca Memorial Awards.
Name: Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzales

Born: September 8, 1915 at Romblon

Died: November 28, 1999

Short Descriptions:

 He was a Filipino novelist, short story writer, essayist and poet. He was conferred as the
National Artist of the Philippines for Literature in 1997.
 He was a son of a school supervisor and a teacher.
 He attended Mindoro High School (now Jose J. Leido Jr. Memorial National High
School) from 1927 to 1930
 When he was in Manila, he wrote the Philippine Graphic and later edited for the Evening
News Magazine and Manila Chronicle.
 His first published essay appeared in the Philippine Graphic and his first poem in Poetry
in 1934
 He made his mark in the Philippine writing community as a member of the Board of
advisers of Likhaam: The University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center, founding
editor of The Diliman Review and as the first president of the Philippine Writers’
Association
 In 1950, he returned to the Philippines and taught at the University of Santo Thomas,
The Philippine Women’s University and the University of the Philippines.
Name: Marjorie Evasco

Born: September 21, 1953 at Maribojoc, Bohol

Short Description:

 She is an award – winning Filipino poet. She writes in two languages: English and
Cebuano-Visayan and she is a supporter of women’s rights, especially of women
writers.
 She is one of the earliest Filipina Feminist poets
 She’s born into a family of teachers who were “always talking in English”, she was
brought up and educated as a Roman Catholic and her formative years in school were
spent under the tutelage of German and Belgian nuns
 She finished her B.A. in 1973 from Divine Word College of Tagbilaran, Master’s Degree
in Creative Writing in 1982 at Siliman University and her Doctor of Philosophy in
Literature (Ph.D. Litt.) at De La Salle University – Manila.
 Her prize-winning poetry books are “Dreamweaver: Selected Poems 1976 – 1986”
(1987) and “Ochre Tones: Poems in English and Cebuano” (1999)
 She was a founding member of two organizations espousing the cause of women
writers: Writers Involved in Creating Cultural Alternatives (WICCA) and Women in
Literary Arts (WILA).
 She served as editor of a special issue of “Ani” in 1998 that featured writings and art
work by Filipino women.
Name: Alfredo “Freddie” Navarro Salanga

Born: September 13, 1948 at Manila

Died: 1988

Short Description:

 He was a Filipino literary critic, columnist, journalist, novelist, poet, fictionist, editor and
multi-awarded writer.
 He was a member of the Manila Critics Circle.
 He was the author of 1984 novella “The Birthing of Hannibal Valdez”
 He was nicknamed as “Daddy Giant”
 He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1969.
 He was a former Secretary-General of the Writers Union of the Philippines, a former
director of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People, a former director of the
Pinaglabanan Galleries, a former trustee of the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC)
and a former Director-General of the People’s Movement for Press Freedom Task Force
for the People’s Right to Know.
 He became a recipient of the Mulry Award for Literary Excellence. He was also an
awardee for the 1980, 1983 and 1985 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for
Literature
 Some of his works are “The Aglipay Question: Literary and Historical Studies” (1982),
“Portraits” (1988),
Name: Nicomedes “Nick” Marquez Joaquin

Born: May 4, 1917 at Paco, Manila

Died: April 29, 2004

Short Description:

 He was a Filipino writer, historian and journalist known for his short stories and novels in
the English language.
 He also wrote using the pen name “Quijano de Manila”
 He was conferred the rank and title of National Artist of the Philippines for Literature
 Before becoming one of the leading practitioners of the Philippine Literature in English,
he was a seminarian in Hong Kong – who later realized that he could better serve God
and humanity by being a writer
 At the age of 17, he published his first poem in English about “Don Quixote”, in the
literary section of the pre-World War II Tribune, where he worked as a proofreader.
 A little later, in 1937 he published his first short story in the Sunday Tribune Magazine,
“The Sorrows of Vaudeville” telling the story of the vaudevilles in Manila – a city he was
endlessly enamored by
 He won a nationwide essay competition to honor La Naval de Manila, sponsored by the
Dominican Order, the University of Santo Thomas awarded him an honorary Associate
in Arts and a scholarship to St. Albert’s Convent, the Dominican monastery in Hong
Kong
 “The Woman Who Felt Like Lazarus” and the essay “La Naval de Manila” were borne
out during the warring period in the Philippines which was detested by Joaquin
Name: Maximo D. Ramos

Born: 1910 at San Narciso, Zambales

Died: December 12, 1988

Short Description:

 He was a recipient of the Hugo H. Miller Memorial Scholar where he took his M.A. In
English at the Indiana University.
 Former head of the English Department at the Philippine Normal University (PNU)
 Dean of the College of Liberal Arts of the University of East (UE).
 He also wrote many literary pieces and these are “The Creatures of Philippine Lower
Mythology”, “Patricia of the Green Hills and Other Stories and Poems”, “The Aswang
Complex in Philippine Folklore”, “Tales of Long Ago in the Philippines”, “Philippine
Myths, Legends, and Folktales”, “Boyhood in Monsoon Country”, “Legends of Lower
Gods”, and “Philippine Demonological Legends and their Cultural Bearings”
 One of his famous work was his “When I See a Baron-barong” which showed the state
of Manila after the World War II
Name: Mynardo Andaya Macaraig

Born: November 5, 1927 at Santa Cruz, Manila

Short Description:

 His parents are Catalino Macaraig, a former Executive Secretary, and Ignacia Tiacho
Macaraig.
 He is called “Taling” by his family and “Mac” by his friends
 He was a product of the Philippine public schools from elementary up until his university
years
 He graduated at the University of the Philippines in 1952 where he took up Bachelor of
Arts (A.B.) and Bachelor of Laws (LL. B)
 He was a member of Upsilon Sigma Phi, the oldest Greek-letter fraternity in Asia.
 He was also a member of the U.P. Vanguards, the university’s Reserve Officer Training
Corps Unit and the pioneer of the ROTC in the Philippines.
 He was into athletics as a member of the U.P. varsity weight-lifting team and the U.P.
Law swimming team.
 He left for the United States and earned a Master of Laws degree (LL.M.) in 1954 from
the University of Michigan Law School, where he specialized in International Law and
Public Administration.
 He also received awards from his alma maters in later years. Among these awards were
the Most Distinguished Alumnus Award (Sunburst Order – Golden Class) of the Arellano
(Manila North) High School in 1977 and the Upsilonian Noble and Outstanding (UNO)
Award, the highest recognition conferred on Upsilonians.
 In December 18, 1955, he married Araceli “Celi” Villareal Andaya