• Philippine literature is a rich group

of literary works that has

developed along w/ the country’s
history.
• Long before the arrival of Western
influences, early Filipinos already
have stories to tell to younger
generations.
The Philippines has a
rich collection of fables,
legends and myths from
different regions.
Hinilawod c. 1983, by Art Geroche, as displayed at the lobby of the
Cultural Center of West Visayas State University, La Paz, Iloilo City,
Philippines
• The Babaylan – the early healers, used
chants to please the supernatural
beings or spirits to bestow good
health and fortune
in the home and
the fields.
• When the Spaniards came in the
16th century, they introduced
Christianity to the islands and used
literature to colonize the country.
• During the time of the Americans,
English was introduced and
Filipinos have
• grown adept
in the usage of
language.
 Philippine literature is
diverse, although some of the
most famous literary works
focus on the country’s
postcolonial, politics and
modern traditions.
 NATIONAL ARTISTS FOR LITERATURE
• AMADO V. HERNANDEZ (Year of
conferment:1973)- a courageous
Filipino writer was well-known for his
disapproval of social justices in the
country.
• He was later imprisoned
for his participation in
the communist
movement.
 He firmly believed that
writers play a vital role in society,
acting “ as the conscience of
society and to affirm the
greatness of the human spirit in
the face of inequity and
oppression”.
 AMADO V. HERNANDEZ
• He wrote his novel “Mga
Ibong Mandaraggit” while
still in prison.
Notable Works:
• Bayang Malaya,

• Isang Dipang langit,

• Luha ng Buaya,

• Tudla at Tudling,
 AMADO V. HERNANDEZ
• Katipunan ng Mga Nalathalang Tula 1921-
1970, Langaw sa Isang Basong Gatas at
Iba Pang Kwento, and
• Magkaibang Mukha ng
Isang Bagol at Iba Pang
Akda.
 He was married to
another national artist,
Filipino actress, Atang
de la Rama.
 JOSE GARCIA VILLA
• JOSE GARCIA VILLA (Year of
conferment:1973) – he was
considered as a powerful literary
influence in the
country in the 20th
century.
 JOSE GARCIA VILLA
• Many people think that his personality
and writing style are eccentric. If you
will study his works, you will notice his
use of comma in every word.
• He described his style as similar to
pointillism (a painting technique in
w/c the artist uses small, distinct dots
of pure color to create an image).
 JOSE GARCIA VILLA
• Footnote to Youth: Tales of The
Philippines and Others – the title of his
first collection of
• short stories in 1993.
 JOSE GARCIA VILLA
• Literary Works: Doveglion: Collected
Poems, Poems 55, and
• Poems in Praise of Love:
• The Best Love poems of
• Jose Garcia Villa.
• Doveglion is Jose
• Villa’s Pseudonym.
• Ex. of Jose Villa’s comma poem:
• Much, beauty, is, less, than, the,
face, of,
• My, dark, hero. His, under, is, pure,
lightning.
His, under, is, the, socket.
 NICK JOAQUIN
• (Year of conferment:1976)
• - considered by many as the people’s
writer because his passion for the
• writing embraced
the manifold being
of Filipinos.
 NICK JOAQUIN
• -“ The Sorrows of Vaudeville” – his
first short story published in 1937 by
the Sunday Tribune.
• -He worked as a journalist for
most of his life, pioneering literary
journalism (a form of creative non-
fiction that reports real events using
the style and techniques used in
literary text).
 NICK JOAQUIN
• Literary Works:
• The Woman Who Had
Two Navels,
• A Portrait of The Artist
as Filipino: An Elegy in
Three Scenes,
Manila, My Manila,
A History for the Young,
• The Ballad of the Five Battles,
• Rizal in Saga: A Life for Student Fans,
• Almanac for Manileňos, and
• Cave and Shadows.
 He used the pen
name Quijano de
Manila for some of his
works.
 CARLOS P. ROMULO
• (Year of conferment:1982)- a
stateman, soldier and a writer who
founded the Boy Scouts of the Phil.
• A young reporter at the
age of 16 and became
a publisher at 32.
 CARLOS P. ROMULO
• -He was the only Asian to be awarded
a Pulitzer Prize in journalism for a
series of articles forecasting the
outbreak of World
War II.
 CARLOS P. ROMULO
• Literary Works:
• The United (a novel),
• I Walked with Heroes (an
autobiography),
• I Saw the Fall of the Philippines,
• Mother America, and
• I See the Philippines Rise (war time
memoirs).
 With countless years of service
in the United Nations and the
Philippine government, he was able
to write; Forty Years: A Third World
Soldier at the UN and the Phil.
Presidents, his records of encounters
w/ the country’s leaders.
 FRANCISCO ARCELLANA
• (Year of conferment:1990)- one of the
greatest Filipino poets of his generation.
• -He took up his writing seriously during his
secondary education at Florentino Torres
High School, where he
became a staff member
of The Torres Torch.
 FRANCISCO ARCELLANA
• -The Man Who Would Be Poe – his
first story w/c he wrote while he is
still a student.
• - He is considered as one of the
pioneers of modern Filipino short
stories in English.
 FRANCISCO ARCELLANA
• Literary Works: “ Death in a Factory”, “A
Clown Remembers” and “Divided by Two’.
• Poems: The Other Woman, To Touch You
and I Touched Her.
 N.V.M. GONZALES
• Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzales- (Year of
conferment:1997)- Nestor Vicente Madali
Gonzales was born on Romblon.
• -In 1948, he received a Rockefeller
Foundation Fellowship,
w/c allowed him to study
in Stanford University and
Columbia University.
 N.V.M. GONZALES
• -He is famed poet, short story
writer, essayist, professor and
recipient of numerous
recognitions.
• -Was awarded as National Artist in
1997, two years before his death.
 N.V.M. GONZALES
• Literary Works:
• “The Winds of April
(1941),
• “A Season of Grace”
(1956),
• “The Bamboo Dancers”
(1998).
 His exemplary works have
been published in several
languages including Filipino,
English, Chinese, German,
Russian and Indonesian.
 CARLOS L. QUIRINO
• (Year of conferment:1997)- one of the
most talented biographers of his time.
• He was the first Filipino to be
recognized as the
national Artist in
Historical Literature
in 1997.
 CARLOS L. QUIRINO
• He obtained his journalism degree
from the University of Wisconsin
at Madison in 1931.
• He wrote Man of Destiny (1935), a
biography about the second
president of the Phil. Manuel L.
Quezon.
 CARLOS L. QUIRINO
• -Quirino then spent some of his years
working as an assistant to Pres. Elpidio
Quirino, who helped him study law
until he passed the bar in 1940.
• Most of Quirino’s
topics covered war,
politics, art business,
and agriculture.
 EDITH L. TIEMPO
• - (Year of conferment:1999) – her
literary works are often described as
remarkable fusion of style and
substance.
• This brilliant writer
received several
awards during her
lifetime.
 EDITH L. TIEMPO
• -Aside from being awarded as a
NAP for Literature in 1999, she was
also a recipient of the Carlos
Palanca Memorial Awards for
Literature for the short story “ The
Black Monkey”.
 EDITH L. TIEMPO
• Literary Works: A Blade of Fern (1978),
The Native Coast (1979), and The Alien
Corn (1992).
• Poetry Collections: The Tracks of
Babylon and Other Poems (1996) and
The Charmer’s Box and Other Poems.
 EDITH L. TIEMPO
• -Together with her husband,
fictionist and novelist Edilberto
Tiempo, she founded the Silliman
University National Writers
Workshop w/c was modelled after
the IOWA writers Workshop in the
University of Iowa.
 -The Silliman University
National Writers Workshop is
the Asia’s longest running
writer’s workshop held in
Dumaguete City.
 Francisco SIONIL JOSE
• (Year of conferment:2001) – a prolific
Filipino writer whose works have been
translated in more than 20 Languages.
• His literary works represent the social
underpinnings of class
struggles and
colonialism in the
society.
 Francisco SIONIL JOSE
• The Pretenders (one of his popular
novels) – the story of one man’s
separation from his poor
background and the dissipation of
his wife’s prosperous family.
 Francisco SIONIL JOSE
• His famous work is the Rosales Saga that
includes, The Pretenders, Tree, My
Brother, My Executioner, Mass and Po-on.
• The Rosales Saga “ captures the sweep of
Philippine history while simultaneously
narrating the lives of generations of the
Samsons where personal lives intertwine
with the social struggles of the nation”.
 Francisco SIONIL JOSE
• He was the founder of the
Philippine chapter of the
international organization PEN
(Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, and
Novelists).
• In 1999, he was awarded the CCP
Centennial Honors for the Arts.
 VIRGILIO S. ALMARIO
• (Year of conferment:2003) – also
known as Rio Alma, a poet and
historian.
• -Born in Bulacan, he
has translated for
theatre production
some of the famous
plays of Nick Joaquin.
 VIRGILIO S. ALMARIO
• -His translations of Jose Rizal’s Noli
Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo
were considered by the Manila
Critics Circle as
the best version.
 VIRGILIO S. ALMARIO
• Poems: Makinasyon,
• Peregrinasyon,
• the trilogy Doktrinang
Anakpawis, Mga
• Retrato and Rekwerdo,
and
• Muli, sa Kandungan
ng Lupa.
 ALEJANDRO R. ROCES
• (Year of conferment:2003) – an
exceptional writer of comic short
stories, one of his finest literary works
is “ My Brother’s
Peculiar Chicken”
 ALEJANDRO R. ROCES
• “ My Brother’s Peculiar Chicken” – it is
a short story that reveals how much
people perceive things around them.
• This particular story won an award in
the University of Arizona and was
listed in Martha Foley’s best American
Short Stories.
 ALEJANDRO R. ROCES
• -Roces also wrote several newspaper
columns, his works have been
published in a variety of international
publications.
• -He is also a multi-awarded writer,
receiving honors and recognitions
including the Rizal Pro Patria Award
and the Gawad CCP para sa Sining.
• BIENVINIDO LUMBERA
• (Year of conferment:2006)
• an award –
winning poet and
scholar.
 BIENVINIDO LUMBERA
• He has published numerous literary
and creative works including:
• Likhang Dila, Likhang Diwa (1993),

• Balaybay: Mga Tulang Lunot at

Manibalang (2002),
 BIENVINIDO LUMBERA
• Sa Sariling Bayan: Apat na Dulang
May Musika (2004)and
• Agunyas sa Hacienda Luisita.

• Tagalog Poetry, Tradition

and Influences in its
Development;
 BIENVINIDO LUMBERA
• Philippine Literature: A History and
Anthology,
• Revaluation: Essays on Philippine
Literature and

• Writing the Nation/ Pag-akda ng

Bansa.
 LAZARO FRANCISCO
• (Year of conferment:2009) –
considered to be an icon in Tagalog
writing through his nationalist and
social criticisms.
•
 LAZARO FRANCISCO
• In 1958, he founded the Kapatiran
ng mga Alagad ng Wikang Pilipino
(KAWIKA).
In 1979, the Ateneo de Manila Univ.
awarded Francisco the Tanglaw ng
Lahi Award for his works.
 LAZARO FRANCISCO
• Novels: Binhi at Bunga, Cesar,
• Ama, Bayang Nagpatiwakal,
• Sa Paanan ng Kruz,
• Ang Pamana ng Pulubi, and
• Bago Lumubog ang Araw.
 LAZARO FRANCISCO
• Short Stories:
• “Deo”,
• Ang Beterano,
• Ang Idolo, and
• Ang Kapulungan ng Pinagpala.
 CIRILIO F. BAUTISTA
• (Year of conferment:2014) –
a highly praised poet,
fictionist and
essayist.
 CIRILIO F. BAUTISTA
• He is also a Palanca Hall of Famer,
winning countless awards and honors,
including:
• the National Book Awards,
• Gawad Jose Corazon de Jesus and
• Gawad CCP para sa Sining.
 CIRILIO F. BAUTISTA
• Literary Works:
• The Trilogy of Saint
Lazarus(2001),
• Believe and Betray:
• New and Collected
Poems (2006),
 CIRILIO F. BAUTISTA
• Galaw ng Asoge (2004),
• The House of True Desire: Essays
About Life and Literature (2011),
and
• Things Happen:
• Poems 2012.
 In 1998, Bautista was
named winner of the Phil.
Centennial Prize for Epic
Poetry.