She is a poet, fictionist, teacher and literary

critic. She is one of the finest Filipino writers in English

whose works are characterized by a remarkable fusion
of style and substance, of craftsmanship and insight.
Born on April 22, 1919 in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya,
her poems are intricate verbal transfigurations of
significant experiences as revealed, in two of her much
anthologized pieces, “The Little Marmoset” and
“Bonsai”. As fictionist, Tiempo is as morally profound.
Her language has been marked as “descriptive but
unburdened by scrupulous detailing.” She is an
influential tradition in Philippine literature in English.
Together with her late husband, Edilberto K. Tiempo,
she founded and directed the Silliman National Writers
Workshop in Dumaguete City, which has produced some
of the country’s best writers.
 Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez, better
known as N.V.M. Gonzalez, fictionist, essayist,
poet, and teacher, articulated the Filipino spirit in
rural, urban landscapes. Among the many
recognitions, he won the First Commonwealth
Literary Contest in 1940, received the Republic
Cultural Heritage Award in 1960 and the Gawad
CCP Para sa Sining in 1990. The awards attest to
his triumph in appropriating the English language
to express, reflect and shape Philippine culture
and Philippine sensibility. He became U.P.’s
International-Writer-In-Residence and a member of
the Board of Advisers of the U.P. Creative Writing
Center. In 1987, U.P. conferred on him the Doctor
of Humane Letters, honoris causa, its highest
academic recognition.
 Major works of N.V.M Gonzalez include
the following: The Winds of April, Seven Hills
Away, Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and
Other Stories, The Bamboo Dancers, Look
Stranger, on this Island Now, Mindoro and
Beyond: Twenty -One Stories, The Bread of
Salt and Other Stories, Work on the
Mountain, The Novel of Justice: Selected
Essays 1968-1994, A Grammar of Dreams and
Other Stories.
 Virgilio S. Almario, also known as Rio Alma, is a poet,
literary historian and critic, who has revived and reinvented
traditional Filipino poetic forms, even as he championed
modernist poetics. In 34 years, he has published 12 books of
poetry, which include the seminal Makinasyon and
Peregrinasyon, and the landmark trilogy Doktrinang
Anakpawis, Mga Retrato at Rekwerdo and Muli, Sa
Kandungan ng Lupa. In these works, his poetic voice soared
from the lyrical to the satirical to the epic, from the dramatic
to the incantatory, in his often severe examination of the
self, and the society.
He has also redefined how the Filipino poetry is
viewed and paved the way for the discussion of the same in
his 10 books of criticisms and anthologies, among which are
Ang Makata sa Panahon ng Makina, Balagtasismo versus
Modernismo,Walong Dekada ng Makabagong Tula Pilipino,
Mutyang Dilim and Barlaan at Josaphat.
 Cirilo F. Bautista 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 teacher of literature, Bautista has realized
that the classroom is an important training ground for
Filipino writers. In De La Salle University, he was
instrumental in the formation of the Bienvenido Santos
Creative Writing Center. He was also the moving spirit
behind the founding of the Philippine Literary Arts
Council in 1981, the Iligan National Writers Workshop in
1993, and the Baguio Writers Group.

Major works: Summer Suns (1963), Words

and Battlefields (1998), The Trilogy of Saint
Lazarus (2001), Galaw ng Asoge (2003).
 Nick Joaquin, is regarded by many as the most
distinguished Filipino writer in English writing so variedly and
so well about so many aspects of the Filipino. Nick Joaquin
has also enriched the English language with critics coining
“Joaquinesque” to describe his baroque Spanish-flavored
English or his reinventions of English based on Filipinisms.
Aside from his handling of language, Bienvenido Lumbera
writes that Nick Joaquin’s significance in Philippine literature
involves his exploration of the Philippine colonial past under
Spain and his probing into the psychology of social changes as
seen by the young, as exemplified in stories such as Doña
Jeronima, Candido’s Apocalypse and The Order of
Melchizedek. Nick Joaquin has written plays, novels, poems,
short stories and essays including reportage and journalism.
As a journalist, Nick Joaquin uses the nome de
guerre Quijano de Manila but whether he is writing
literature or journalism, fellow National Artist Francisco
Arcellana opines that “it is always of the highest skill and
quality”.
 F. Sionil Jose’s writings since the late 60s, when
taken collectively can best be described as epic. Its
sheer volume puts him on the forefront of Philippine
writing in English. But ultimately, it is the consistent
espousal of the aspirations of the Filipino–for national
sovereignty and social justice–that guarantees the value
of his oeuvre.
In the five-novel masterpiece, the Rosales saga,
consisting of The Pretenders, Tree, My Brother, My
Executioner, Mass, and Po-on, he captures the sweep
of Philippine history while simultaneously narrating the
lives of generations of the Samsons whose personal lives
intertwine with the social struggles of the nation.
Because of their international appeal, his works,
including his many short stories, have been published
and translated into various languages.
 Prize-winning writer Lazaro A. Francisco developed
the social realist tradition in Philippine fiction. His eleven
novels, now acknowledged classics of Philippine literature,
embodies the author’s commitment to nationalism. Amadis
Ma. Guerrero wrote, “Francisco championed the cause of the
common man, specifically the oppressed peasants. His novels
exposed the evils of the tenancy system, the exploitation of
farmers by unscrupulous landlords, and foreign domination.”
Teodoro Valencia also observed, “His pen dignifies the
Filipino and accents all the positives about the Filipino way
of life. His writings have contributed much to the formation
of a Filipino nationalism.” Literary historian and critic
Bienvenido Lumbera also wrote, “When the history of the
Filipino novel is written, Francisco is likely to occupy an
eminent place in it. Already in Tagalog literature, he ranks
among the finest novelists since the beginning of the 20th
century. In addition to a deft hand at characterization,
Francisco has a supple prose style responsive to the subtlest
nuances of ideas and the sternest stuff of passions.”
 Francisco gained prominence as a writer
not only for his social conscience but also for
his “masterful handling of the Tagalog
language” and “supple prose style”. With his
literary output in Tagalog, he contributed to
the enrichment of the Filipino language and
literature for which he is a staunch advocate.
He put up an arm to his advocacy of Tagalog as
a national language by establishing the
Kapatiran ng mga Alagad ng Wikang Pilipino
(KAWIKA) in 1958.
 His reputation as the “Master of the Tagalog
Novel” is backed up by numerous awards he
received for his meritorious novels in particular,
and for his contribution to Philippine literature and
culture in general. His masterpiece novels—Ama,
Bayang Nagpatiwakal, Maganda Pa Ang Daigdig
and Daluyong—affirm his eminent place in
Philippine literature. In 1997, he was honored by
the University of the Philippines with a special
convocation, where he was cited as the “foremost
Filipino novelist of his generation” and “champion
of the Filipino writer’s struggle for national
identity.”
 “You cannot be a great writer; first, you
have to be a good person”
Alejandro Roces, is a short story writer
and essayist, and considered as the country’s
best writer of comic short stories. He is known
for his widely anthologized “My Brother’s
Peculiar Chicken.” In his innumerable
newspaper columns, he has always focused on
the neglected aspects of the Filipino cultural
heritage. His works have been published in
various international magazines and has
received national and international awards.
 Ever the champion of Filipino culture,
Roces brought to public attention the
aesthetics of the country’s fiestas. He was
instrumental in popularizing several local
fiestas, notably, Moriones and Ati-atihan. He
personally led the campaign to change the
country’s Independence Day from July 4 to
June 12, and caused the change of language
from English to Filipino in the country’s
stamps, currency and passports, and recovered
Jose Rizal’s manuscripts when they were stolen
from the National Archives.
 Carlos P. Romulo‘s multifaceted career spanned
50 years of public service as educator, soldier,
university president, journalist and diplomat. It is
common knowledge that he was the first Asian
president of the United Nations General Assembly, then
Philippine Ambassador to Washington, D.C., and later
minister of foreign affairs. Essentially though, Romulo
was very much into writing: he was a reporter at 16, a
newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at
32. He was the only Asian to win America’s coveted
Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for a series of articles
predicting the outbreak of World War II. Romulo, in all,
wrote and published 18 books, a range of literary works
which included The United (novel), I Walked with
Heroes (autobiography), I Saw the Fall of the
Philippines, Mother America, I See the Philippines
Rise (war-time memoirs).
 Rolando S. Tinio, playwright, thespian, poet,
teacher, critic and translator, marked his career with
prolific artistic productions. Tinio’s chief distinction is
as a stage director whose original insights into the
scripts he handled brought forth productions notable
for their visual impact and intellectual cogency.
Subsequently, after staging productions for the Ateneo
Experimental Theater (its organizer and administrator
as well), he took on Teatro Pilipino. It was to Teatro
Pilipino which he left a considerable amount of work
reviving traditional Filipino drama by re-staging old
theater forms like the sarswela and opening a treasure-
house of contemporary Western drama. It was the
excellence and beauty of his practice that claimed for
theater a place among the arts in the Philippines in the
1960s.
 Aside from his collections of poetry
(Sitsit sa Kuliglig, Dunung – Dunungan, Kristal
na Uniberso, A Trick of Mirrors) among his
works were the following: film scripts for Now
and Forever, Gamitin Mo Ako, Bayad Puri and
Milagros; sarswelas Ang Mestisa, Ako, Ang
Kiri, Ana Maria; the komedya Orosman at
Zafira; and Larawan, the musical.
 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).
 Levi Celerio is a prolific lyricist and
composer for decades. He effortlessly
translated/wrote anew the lyrics to traditional
melodies: “O Maliwanag Na Buwan” (Iloko),
“Ako ay May Singsing” (Pampango),
“Alibangbang” (Visaya) among others.
Born in Tondo, Celerio received his
scholarship at the Academy of Music in Manila
that made it possible for him to join the Manila
Symphony Orchestra, becoming its youngest
member. He made it to the Guinness Book of
World Records as the only person able to make
music using just a leaf.
 A great number of his songs have been
written for the local movies, which earned for
him the Lifetime Achievement Award from the
Film Academy of the Philippines. Levi Celerio,
more importantly, has enriched the Philippine
music for no less than two generations with a
treasury of more than 4,000 songs in an idiom
that has proven to appeal to all social classes.
Lualhati Torres Bautista is one of the foremost Filipino
female novelists in the history of contemporary
Philippine literature. Her novels include Dekada '70,
Bata, Bata, Pa'no Ka Ginawa?, and ‘GAPÔ.

Lualhati Bautista is the only filipino included in a book on

foremost International Women Writers published in Japan,
1991.One of her work,Dekada 70 was been adapted by a film
producer Chito Roño that deals on how Lea dealth with her
feelings towards men she loved and how she explained their
situations to her kids. Her works are priceless she gave all her
life in it. She got many acknowledgement and awards from
different places and different contests. She is an invulnerable.
And now she continues her life being a writer and telling the
people the true nature of Martial Law Era.
 Gilda Cordero-Fernando is a multiawarded
writer, publisher and cultural icon from the
Philippines. She was born in Manila, has a B.A.
from St. Theresa’s College-Manila, and an M.A.
from the Ateneo de Manila University.

She started off as a writer and was awarded the

Palanca Award for Literature several times. She
has also written and illustrated children’s
books.Her short stories are collected in Major
works: Summer Suns (1963), Words and
Battlefields (1998), The Trilogy of Saint Lazarus
(2001), Galaw ng Asoge (2003).
 Jose Garcia Villa 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 penname, 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.
Liwayway Arceo (b. 1920) was a multi-awarded Tagalog
fictionist, journalist, radio scriptwriter and editor from the
Philippines.

Arceo was the author of well-received novels such as Canal de

la Reina (1985) and Titser (1995). She also published
collections of short stories such as Ina, Maybahay, Anak at iba
pa, Mga Maria, Mga Eva, Ang Mag-anak na Cruz (1990), and
Mga Kuwento ng Pag-ibig (1997). Most of her books were
published by Ateneo de Manila University Press and The
University of the Philippines Press.

Arceo made her mark as a lead actress in a Japanese and

Philippine film produced during World War II. The film Tatlong
Maria was produced by two movie companies: X'Otic Pictures of
the Philippines and Eiga Hekusa of Japan in 1944. She also
ventured into radio by Ilaw ng Tahanan, a long-running radio
serial. Ilaw ng Tahanan became a television soap opera aired in
RPN 9 during the late 1970s.
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda was a Filipino
nationalist and polymath during the tail end of the Spanish
colonial period of the Philippines. An ophthalmologist by
profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of the
Filipino Propaganda movement which advocated political reforms
for the colony under Spain.
He was executed by the Spanish colonial government for the
crime of rebellion after the Philippine Revolution, inspired in
part by his writings, broke out. Though he was not actively
involved in its planning or conduct, he ultimately approved of its
goals which eventually led to Philippine Independence.
He is widely considered one of the greatest heroes of the
Philippines and has been recommended to be so honored by an
officially empaneled National Heroes Committee. However, no
law, executive order or proclamation has been enacted or issued
officially proclaiming any Filipino historical figure as a National
Hero. He was the author of the novels Noli Me Tangere and El
filibusterismo, and a number of poems and essays.
• Nicanor Abelardo (1893-1934)
• Estrella Alfon (1917-1983)
• Francisco Arcellana (1916-2002)
• Francisco Balagtas (1788-1962)
• Cecilia Manguerra Brainard (b. 1947)
• Carlos Bulason (1913-1956)
• Genoveva Edroza-Matute (1915-2009)
• Zoilo Galang
• N.V.M Gozales (1915-1999)
• Nick Joaquin (1917-2004)
• F. Sionil Jose (b. 1924)
• Peter Solis Nery (b.1969)
• Ambeth R. Ocampo (b. 1961)