Canonical Authors

Authors whose works were reviewed by

experts and influenced its readers
Written literary pieces who have won many
awards for its complexity, creativity and the
works great impact to our literature
Created well established writing patterns
 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,
 Together with her late husband Edilberto K. Tiempo, she
founded and directed the Silliman National Writers Workshop
in Dumaguete City
 Her works have won numerous prizes from the Don Carlos
Palanca Awards in Literature, the CCP literary contest, and the
Philippine Free Press literary contest. She was conferred
National Artist for Literature in 1999.
 published works include the novel A Blade of Fern (1978), His
Native Coast (1979), The Alien Corn (1992), One, Tilting
Leaves (1995) and The Builder (2003); the poetry
collections, The Tracks of Babylon and Other Poems (1966),
• Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera, literary scholar, social commentator,
librettist, and poet has been chosen as 2006 National Artist for
Literature. He fully deserves the award, and more so than many
of those who had received it ahead of him.

• In 1991 the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) gave him an

award for cultural research. Two years later, he received the
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalist, Literature and Creative
Communication Arts. In 1999 the CCP honored him as one of the
Philippines’ 100 outstanding artists of the 20th century. In 2000,
the Ateneo de Manila University, where he used to teach gave
him the Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi (Light of the Race Award).

• He is the author of the following works: Likhang Dila, Likhang

Diwa (poems in Filipino and English), 1993; Balaybay, Mga Tulang
Lunot at Manibalang, 2002; Sa Sariling Bayan, Apat na Dulang
May Musika, 2004; “Agunyas sa Hacienda Luisita,” Pakikiramay,
2004.
 Nicomedes "Nick" Márquez Joaquín (May 4, 1917 – April 29, 2004)
was a Filipino writer, historian, and journalist best known for
his short stories and novels in the English language.

 He has been considered one of the most important Filipino

writers, along with José Rizal and Claro M. Recto. Unlike Rizal and
Recto, whose works were written in Spanish, Joaquin's major
works were written in English despite being a native Spanish
speaker.

 Literary prominence, as measured by different English critics, is

said to rest upon one of Nick Joaquín’s published books entitled
“Prose and Poems” which was published in 1952. Published in this
book are the poems “Three Generations”, “May Day Eve”, “After
the Picnic”, “The Legend of the Dying Wanton”, “The Legend of
the Virgin Jewel;”, “It Was Later than we Thought”. Among these,
the first of the mentioned written works were deliberated by
editors Seymour Laurence and Jose Garcia Villa as a “short story
masterpiece” (1953). The poem was also chosen as the best short
story published in the Philippine Press between March 1943 and
November 1944.[5]
 Amado V. Hernandez, poet, playwright, and novelist, is
among the Filipino writers who practiced “committed art”. In
his view, the function of the writer is to act as the conscience
of society and to affirm the greatness of the human spirit in
the face of inequity and oppression. Hernandez’s contribution
to the development of Tagalog prose is considerable — he
stripped Tagalog of its ornate character and wrote in prose
closer to the colloquial than the “official” style permitted. His
novel Mga Ibong Mandaragit, first written by Hernandez while
in prison, is the first Filipino socio-political novel that exposes
the ills of the society as evident in the agrarian problems of
the 50s.
 Hernandez’s other works include Bayang Malaya, Isang
Dipang Langit, Luha ng Buwaya, Amado V. Hernandez: Tudla
at Tudling: Katipunan ng mga Nalathalang Tula 1921-
1970, Langaw sa Isang Basong Gatas at Iba Pang Kuwento ni
Amado V. Hernandez, Magkabilang Mukha ng Isang Bagol at
Iba Pang Akda ni Amado V. Hernandez.
 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.”
 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.
 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.
 His unflinching love of country led him to become a guerilla during
the Second World War, to defy martial law and to found the major
opposition party under the dictatorship. His works have been
published in various international magazines and received numerous
national and international awards, including several decorations
from various governments.
 National Artist for Literature (2003)
 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.
 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).
 “Art is a miraculous flirtation with Nothing!
Aiming for nothing, and landing on the Sun.”
― Doveglion: Collected Poems
 Jose Garcia Villa is considered as one of the finest contemporary
poets regardless of race or language.
 introduced the reversed consonance rime scheme, including the
comma poems that made full use of the punctuation mark in an
innovative, poetic way.
 he 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 pen name, 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.
 National Artist for Literature (1973)
 National Artist for Literature (1990)
 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”.
 A brilliant craftsman, his works are now an
indispensable. 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).