ISAGANI R. CRUZ

ISAGANI R. CRUZ

"Cruz earned his undergraduate degree from the University of the Philippines, where he completed a Bachelor of Science in Physics in 1965. He later enrolled at the Ateneo de Manila University to earn an M.A. in English Literature in 1970. He also earned a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Maryland in 1976. In 1972 and 2003, Cruz received a Fulbright grant that allowed him to study in the United States.
As a writer, Cruz has received recognition for his contributions to Philippine literature. He had written more than thirty books. He is a Don Carlos Palanca Memorial awardee for Literature. As a result he became a member of the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2004 for his plays, essays, and short stories in Filipino and English. He also won the SEAWRITE Award in 1991, the Centennial Literary Contest Award in 1998, and the Gawad Balagtas Award in 1999. Cruz represented the Philippines in several international conferences in Canada, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan. Cruz’s scholastic articles were published in the Philippines and in the United States. In the Philippines, Cruz served as editor for Loyola Studies, Palabas, Interlock, and Malay publications. Cruz is also a regular contributor for Philippine periodicals such as the Times Journal, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the TV Times, Modern Romances, Bulaklak, WHO, Parade, Observer, Panorama, Ms. Ellaneous, and Asiaweek magazine. Apart from creative writing, Cruz is also a known film and drama reviewer.

As an educator, Cruz worked with prominent Philippine universities. Prior to his official retirement, he held the Alfredo E. Litiatco Lectures at the De La Salle University, where he chaired for the Department of Literature and Philippine Languages. He also became a publisher at the De La Salle University Press. While at the De La Salle University, he taught a variety of subjects which included Science Fiction, Advanced Writing, The Teaching of Literature, and Computer Literacy. He also taught Literature at the Ateneo de Manila University and at the University of Santo Tomas. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City and a director of the Teachers Academy at Far Eastern University. He also became a professor at universities in the United States, Japan, and Taiwan. He became a Visiting Fellow at St Antony's College at Oxford University.

As an advocate of Philippine culture, Cruz was a member of groups and institutions that promote Philippine literature and art. He was a member and founding chair of the Manila Critics Circle, the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (Philippine Film Critics), a former head of the Philippine Studies Association of the Philippines, the University of the Philippines Writers Club, the Cultural Research Association of the Philippines, the American Studies Association of the Philippines, the Philippine Tournament Bridge Association, and the National Research Council of the Philippines. Cruz was also the Philippine bibliographer of the Modern Languages Association of America. He was the president of the Philippine Fulbright Scholars Association."

January 14, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isagani_R._Cruz

ANGELA MANALAG GLORIA

Angela Manalang Gloria


(ca. 1915 - 1996)

"Lyric poet, pianist, and editor, had her roots in Guagua, Pampanga, but her ancestors went to Albay and prospered. When she was about eight years old, she became fascinated with books, read avidly, and in consequence her eyesight was seriously impaired. She loved music (played the piano very well), nature and things dainty and beautiful.

She started her early schooling with the Benedictine Sisters in Albay, and in Manila continued under the tutelage of the same religious order. She then transferred to another girls' school, Sta. Scholastica, and graduated salutatorian in 1925. In school she continued pursuing her interest in music in hopes of becoming a great pianist. After graduation from high school she proceeded to UP and started taking pre-law subjects, at the same time going into painting. C. V. Vicker, a member of the UP faculty, noticed her creative work and advised her to change her program of study. She shifted her course to the liberal arts and graduated summa cum laude with an A.B. in philosophy in 1929.

In UP she worked with the Philippine Collegian as a literary editor, with Celedonio P. Gloria as editor-in-chief. Their friendship culminated in marriage. Subsequently, her husband, who finished the LL.B. in UP, went into law practice. She became editor of the Herald Mid-Week Magazine but had to resign six months later because of poor health. WWII came and her husband died. Her creative writing gradually diminished.

From the idealist that she was when younger, she emerged a pragmatist, a practical woman reshaped by the realities of life. She had found that life is not all love, that love is not the only way to one's goal. She realized that this world is "circumferenced with lucre/ within a coin of brass." She plunged into business and traveled and prospered. But Philippine literature lost her.

Poems (1940) was, in 1987, the only partial collection of her notable poems. She is essentially a lyric poet voicing her moods and desires in musical, singing stanzas. She finds standard rime and rhythm adequate to her needs. The music in her sonnets is "sweeter and more tender [and more melodious] than Tarrosa's" (Trinidad Tarrosa-Subido), wrote a commentator, but the two lack the verve and exuberance and vitality of that love in the sonnets of Torribia Maño."

Filipino Writers in English by Florentino B. Valeros and Estrellita V. Gruenberg, New Day Publishers, Quezon City, 1987. JANUARY 14, 2009
http://pinoylit.webmanila.com/filipinowriters/amgloria.htm

FRANCISCO ARCELLANA

Francisco Arcellana

"Francisco Arcellana, writer, poet, essayist, critic, journalist and teacher, was born on September 6, 1916. He is considered to be one of the roots of the modern Filipino short story writers who write in English. For him, a good fiction should be very close to reality. He kept the experimental tradition in fiction alive and dared to explore new literary forms to express the sensibility.

He studied elementary and high school in Tondo, Manila, and completed a PhB. degree at the University of the Philippines in 1939. He was a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow in Creative Writing from 1956-1957 at the University of Iowa. The university offers one of the best creative writing programs in the United States.

He was one of the pioneers of the influential writers’ group “The Veronicans,” a group 13 pre-war writers whose aim was, to make their writing bear the imprint on the Face of the Philippines.

One of his most distinguished achievements was his appointment as the first and founding director of the UP Creative Writing Center in June 1979. He held the directorial position for three and a half years.

Fellows at the UP’s annual writing workshops remember him as a stringent critic with a sharp eye for craftsmanship and a steady supply of witty gibes.

Some of his short stories are “The Man Who Would Be Poe,” “Frankie,” “Lina,” “Death in a Factory,” “Divided by Two” and “A Clown Remembers” Some of his poems include “This Being the Third Poem,” “The Other Woman,” “To Touch You and I Touched Her,” and “This Poem is for Mathilda.”

His short stories were adapted to screenplay too. These are “Flowers of May” and “The Mats.” Recently, his “Christmas Gift” short story was adapted to screenplay by director Alberto S. Florentino.

He became a National Artist for Literature in 1990. Twelve years after, he passed away at the age of 85."

January 14, 2009
http://filipinoquotes.blogspot.com/2008/06/filipino-writer-in-english.html

Literature

Literature is a term used to describe written or spoken material. Broadly speaking, "literature" is used to describe anything from creative writing to more technical or scientific works, but the term is most commonly used to refer to works of the creative imagination, including works of poetry, drama, fiction, and nonfiction.
Literature introduces us to new worlds of experience. We learn about books and literature; we enjoy the comedies and the tragedies of poems, stories, and plays; and we may even grow and evolve through our literary journey with books.