Jose Garcia Villa was a Filipino literary critic, poet, painter, and

short story writer. He was born on August 5, 1908 in Manila.

He gained both local and international recognition for his works.
He was named as the National Artist for Literature in 1973, and
he was also a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship.
During his college years, he wrote Man Songs, a collection of
controversial poems that was considered too bold by the
University of the Philippines and became the ground for his
suspension from the said institution.
Some of his well-known literary works are "Mir-i-nisa" (won in the
Philippines Free Press in 1929), and "Footnote to Youth"
(published in 1933).
Carlos P. Romulo

 Carlos P. Romulo was a Filipino diplomat, statesman, journalist, and soldier. He was born on
January 14, 1898 in Intramuros, Manila and grew up in Camiling, Tarlac.
 He was the first Filipino journalist who was awarded with the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism. He
was also the first Asian who served as the president of the United Nations General Assembly.
 "I am a Filipino" is one of the many essays written by Carlos P. Romulo. It was published in
The Philippines Herald in August 1941.
 He also wrote the book entitled I Saw the Fall of the Philippines, in which he narrated his
personal experiences as an aide-de-camp to General Douglas MacArthur in Corregidor. This
book was followed by a sequel, I See the Philippines Rise, a journalistic account of the
Philippine War in 1944.
 Among his other famous literary works are Mother America: A Living Story of Democracy, a
discussion of his political ideals about American democracy in the Philippines, and I Walked
with Heroes, his autobiography.
 He was conferred as National Artist for Literature in 1982.
 He died on December 15, 1985.
Francisco Arcellana

 Francisco Arcellana is a Filipino teacher and a contemporary writer. He is one of

the prominent Filipino fictionists in English.
 He is known for innovating and exploring new literary forms and experimenting
with different techniques in short story writing.
 He was a member of the group The Veronicans, which was composed of influential
Filipino writers who aimed to use sensible literature in order to create a greater
impact on the Philippines.
 He was also the first director of the University of the Philippines Creative Writing
Center.
 Some of his well-known literary works are the short stories "The Man Who Would
Be Poe," "Death in a Factory," "A Clown Remembers," "The Mats," and "Lina."
 In 1990, he was awarded as the National Artist for Literature.
 His short stories "Flowers of May," "Christmas Gift," and "The Mats," were adapted
as screenplays.
N.V.M. Gonzalez

 Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez is an award-winning Filipino poet, essayist, fictionist,

journalist, editor, and teacher of creative writing.
 He is the first president of the Philippine Writers’ Association.
 He is also honored as one of the great Filipino writers who advanced literary traditions and
culture.
 He was a recipient of the following awards: The Republic Cultural Heritage Award, the Jose
Rizal Pro-Patria Award, the Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature, and the National
Artist Award for Literature in 1997.
 Some of his published works are Seven Hills Away (1947), Children of the Ash-Covered Loam
and Other Stories (1954), and The Bamboo Dancers (1949), which appeared in Russian
translation in 1965 and 1974.
 Seven Hills Away is a collection of short stories that sketch the daily lives of the Filipino
kaingeros in his hometown province, Mindoro.
 The Bamboo Dancers is a diasporic novel that features the challenges faced by Filipinos in
America.
Edith L. Tiempo

 Edith L. Tiempo was a Filipino writer in English. She was a poet, fiction writer, and literary critic.
 She was known for using intricate and witty representations to portray significant human
experiences.
 Some of her well known poems are "The Return," a poem that describes the characteristics of old
age, "Lament for the Littlest Fellow," a poem that presents a metaphor to describe the plight of a
submissive wife under her domineering husband, and "Bonsai," a poem that gives a look at how
tangible objects could be keepers of memories and emotions.
 As a fictionist, she was known for her moral profoundness. One of her remarkable short stories, "The
Black Monkey," won third prize in the Carlos Palanca Memorial Award. "The Black Monkey," which is
set during the time when guerrillas were fighting against the Japanese during World War II, narrates
the tormenting encounter of a woman with a monkey.
 She also wrote the novel A Blade of Fern, which depicts the problems of Filipino miners of Nibucal
in southern Philippines.
 She was awarded as the National Artist for Literature in 1999.
 She founded with her husband the Silliman University National Writers Workshop, which produced
great young writers of her time.
F. Sionil Jose

 Francisco Sionil Jose, widely known as F. Sionil Jose, was born on December 3,
1924 in Rosales, Pangasinan.
 His life and most of his works are influenced by Dr. Jose P. Rizal.
 He edited various literary and journalistic publications, and he founded the
Philippine PEN, an organization of poets, playwrights, and novelists.
 He opened Solidaridad Publishing House in 1965. A year after, he founded
Solidarity, a magazine that produces content mainly focused on "current affairs,
ideas, and the arts."
 He was a recipient of numerous awards. Some of which are the Ramon Magsaysay
Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communications in 1980, the Pablo
Neruda Centennial Award in 2004, and the Officer in the French Order of Arts and
Letters in 2014.
 He was conferred as National Artist for Literature in 2001.
Virgilio S. Almario

 Virgilio S. Almario
 Virgilio S. Almario, popularly known by his pen name Rio Alma, is a Filipino artist known for his
poetry and literary criticism. He was proclaimed National Artist for Literature in 2003.

 Almario, together with poets Rogelio Mangahas and Lamberto E. Antonio, pioneered the second
modernist movement in Filipino poetry. In his own words, he defines modernist poetry as sparing,
suggestive, and restrained in emotion; its vocabulary and subject are immersed in the now. Among
his poetry collections are Makinasyon at Ilang Tula (1968), his very first collection; Peregrinasyon at
Iba Pang Tula (1970), which won first prize in poetry in the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards;
Doktrinang Anakpawis (1979); Mga Retrato at Rekwerdo (1984); and Muli Sa Kandungan ng Lupa
(1994).

 Almario’s earliest works of literary criticism were published in the Dawn, the weekly organ of the
University of the East. Some of those works were later included in Ang Makata sa Panahon ng Makina
(1982), now considered as the first book of literary criticism in Filipino. His other critical works
include Taludtod at Talinghaga (1965), which tackles the traditional Tagalog prosody; and
Balagtasismo Versus Modernismo (1984), in which he presents the two main directions of the
Tagalog Poetry.
Alejandro R. Roces

 Alejandro R. Roces was a Filipino literary writer. He was born on July 13, 1924.
 He was a playwright, an essayist, and a short story writer. He was also a columnist at the Philippine Star, the Manila Times, and
the Manila Chronicle.
 He attended the Ateneo de Manila University for his primary and secondary education and the University of Arizona where he
earned his degree in fine arts. He pursued further studies at the following institutions: Far Eastern University (master’s
degree); Ateneo de Manila University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, St. Louis University, and Tokyo University in
Japan (doctorate).
 Alejandro R. Roces was known for his short story "We Filipinos Are Mild Drinkers," a story about an American soldier in the
Philippines who brags about his drinking habits, but becomes overly drunk after drinking lambanog offered by a Filipino farmer.
 From 1961 to 1965, he served as the Secretary of Education under the regime of former president Diosdado Macapagal. He has
also served as chairman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) in 2001.
 His other literary works are "My Brother’s Peculiar Chicken," a story which talks about two brothers who were arguing whether
the chicken they caught was a hen or a rooster; Something to Crow About, the first Filipino zarzuela in English about a man
named Kiko who earns a living by means of cockfighting; and Fiesta, a collection of essays about various Philippine festivals.
 Alejandro R. Roces was conferred as National Artist for Literature in 2003.
 He died on May 23, 2011.
Bienvenido S. Lumbera

 Personal Life
 Lumbera, who was called Beny when he was a young boy, was born in Lipa, Batangas on April
11, 1932. His parents had passed away before he turned five.
 Beny and his older sister were raised by Eusebia Teru, their paternal grandmother.
 When Eusebia died, Beny came to live with his godparents, Enrique and Amanda Lumbera.
 Beny showed natural aptitude for English. In sixth grade, his writing impressed his teacher so
much that she once asked him, in an accusatory tone, if he did write his composition himself.
In his third year in high school, his teacher gave him difficult works of literature to read.
 Lumbera took a degree in journalism at the University of Santo Tomas in 1950 and graduated
cum laude in 1954. A year before his graduation, his first published work, the poem “Frigid
Moon,” appeared in the Sunday magazine of the Manila Chronicle.
 On a full scholarship granted by the Fulbright Committee, Lumbera obtained his masters and
doctorate degrees at Indiana University.