A SURVEY OF

AUTHORS
A.FILIPINO AUTHORS
B. INTERNATIONAL WELL-KNOWN
AUTHORS
A. FILIPINO AUTHORS
 Edith L. Tiempo
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.
Her poems are intricate verbal transfigurations of
significant experiences as revealed, in two of her
much anthologized pieces, "The Little Marmoset"
and "Bonsai".
 TIEMPO'S PUBLISHED
WORKS
Tiempo's published works include the
novel A Blade of Fern (1978), The
Native Coast (1979), and The Alien
Corn (1992); the poetry collections,
The Tracks of Babylon and Other
Poems (1 966), and The Charmer's
Box and Other Poems (1993); and
the short story collection Abide,
Joshua, and Other Stories (1964).
Bienvenido Lumbera
Is a poet, librettist, and scholar. As a
poet, he introduced to Tagalog literature
what is now known as Bagay poetry, a
landmark aesthetic tendency that has
helped to change the vernacular poetic
tradition
LUMBERA’S WORKS

Likhan 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.
LUMBERA’S MAJOR BOOKS
Tagalog Poetry, 1570-1898:
Tradition and Influences in its
Development; Philippine
Literature: A History and
Anthology, Revaluation: Essays
on Philippine Literature, Writing
the Nation/Pag-akda ng Bansa.
Nestor Vicente Madali
Gonzalez

better known as N.V.M. Gonzalez,

fictionist, essayist, poet, and
teacher, articulated the Filipino
spirit in rural, urban landscapes.
Major works of N.V.M
Gonzalez
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
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.
Makinasyon and Peregrinasyon, and the landmark trilogy
Doktrinang Anakpawis, Mga Retrato at Rekwerdo and
Muli, Sa Kandungan ng Lupa.
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.
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 we l 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 Dona Jeronima, Candido's
Apocalypse and The Order of
Melchizedek.
 VOLUMINOUS WORK of
JOAQUIN
The Woman Who Had Two
Navels, A Portrait of the Artist
as Filipino, Manila, My Manila:
A History for the Young, The
Ballad of the Five Battles,
Rizal in Saga, Almanac for
Manilefios, Cave and
F. Sionil Jose
His 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.
 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.
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 lbong
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
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.
Lazaro A. Francisco
A prize-winning writer developed the
social realist tradition in Philippine
fiction. His eleven novels, now
acknowledged classics of Philippine
literature, embodies the author's
commitment to nationalism.
HIS MASTERPIECE
NOVELS
Ama, Bayang
Nagpatiwakal, Maganda Pa
Ang Daigdig and Daluyong
—affirm his eminent place in
Philippine literature.
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.
His works have been published in
various international magazines
and received numerous national
and international awards, including
several decorations from various
governments.
Carlos P. Romulo
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).
His other books include his memoirs of his
many years’ affiliations with United Nations
(UN)
Forty Years: A Third
World Soldier at the UN,
and The Philippine
Presidents, his oral history
of his experiences sewing all
the Philippine presidents.
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'S WORKS
Footnote to Youth, Many Voices,
Poems by Doveglion, Poems 55,
Poems in Praise of Love: The Best
Love Poems of Jose Garcia Villa as
Chosen By Himself, Selected Stories,The
Portable Villa, The Essential Villa, Mir-
i-nisa, Storymasters 3: Selected
Stories from Footnote to Youth, 55
Poems: Selected and Translated into
Tagalog by Hilario S. Francia.
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.
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‘s published
books
Selected Stories (19 2), Poetry
and Politics: The State of
Original Writing in English in
the Philippines Today (1977),
The Francisco Arcellana
Sampler (1990).
Arcellana‘s published
books
Frankie, The Man Who Would Be Poe,
Death in a Factory, Lina, A Clown
Remembers, Divided by Two, The
Mats, and his poems being The Other
Woman, This Being the Third Poem
This Poem is for Mathilda, To Touch
You and I Touched Her, and among
others.
Levi Celerio
is a prolific lyricist and composer for
decades. He effortlessly
translated/wrote anew the lyrics to
traditional melodies: “O Maliwanag Na
Buwan" (lloko), “Ako ay May Singsing"
(Pampango), “Alibangbang" (Visaya)
among others.
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.
Carlos Quirino
biographer, has the distinction of having
written one of the earliest biographies of
Jose Rizal titled The Great Malayan.
Quirino’s books and articles span the
whole gamut of Philippine history and
culture-from Bonifacio’s trial to Aguinaldo’s
biography, from Philippine cartography to
culinary arts, from cash crops to tycoons
and presidents lives, among so many
subjects.
His book Maps and Views of Old Manila
is considered as the best book on the
subject. His other books include Quezon,
Man of Destiny, Magsaysay of the
Philippines, Lives of the Philippine
Presidents, Philippine Cartography,
The History of Philippine Sugar
Industry, Filipino Heritage: The
Making of a Nation, Filipinos at War:
The Fight for Freedom from Mactan to
B. INTERNATIONAL WELL-
KNOWN AUTHORS
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
(1564-1616)
English poet and playwright.
Famous plays include Macbeth, Romeo
and Juliet, Merchant of Venice and
Hamlet. Shakespeare is widely
considered the seminal writer of the
English language.
JONATHAN SWIFT (1667–
1745)
Anglo-Irish writer born in Dublin. Swift
was a prominent satirist, essayist and
author.

Notable works include Gulliver’s

Travels (1726), A Modest Proposal and
A Tale of a Tub.